Investigation finds that Daniel Harush, critically wounded in last week’s attack, had hid in a bathroom stall near the terrorist
Daniel Harush, 19, an Israeli soldier critically wounded in an attack at the Beersheba central bus station last week, was likely shot by a police officer rather than the terrorist, a police investigation has found.
According to a Channel 2 report Sunday, eyewitnesses said that Harush had managed to shout at police officers that he was an IDF soldier before he was shot.
He was targeted as police and other security personnel were pursuing the attacker, the report said. Harush and a second man had hidden in a bathroom stall next to where the terrorist was hiding and were shot when they emerged. The police investigation into the incident was ongoing.
Harush is still hospitalized, and although his condition has improved slightly, he is nevertheless considered severely injured.
The attack on the bus station left another IDF soldier, Sgt. Omri Levi, and an Eritrean man, Haftom Zarhum, dead, and wounded 11. Levi was killed by the terrorist, who was named as 21-year-old Israeli Arab Muhanad Alukabi.
The Eritrean man, Haftom Zarhum, 29, died in the hospital after he was shot by a security guard who mistakenly identified him as a terrorist. While he was writhing on the floor, he was savagely beaten by an enraged mob.
Alukabi was killed in a shootout with security forces at the scene.
The Israel Police has made several arrests in connection with Zarhum’s death. Suspects include two Israel Defense Forces soldiers and an Israeli civilian, who were seen on security camera footage beating Zarhum as he lay on the ground, as well as two members of the Israel Prison Service. The IDF military police is involved in the investigation into the beating.
Pathologists determined that the cause of Zarhum’s death was internal bleeding from a gunshot wound, and not the subsequent repeated blows to the head.
A graphic video posted on the Channel 10 website showed the severity of the attack on Zarhum, with a number of people — including the two soldiers — repeatedly kicking him in the head as a bus driver tried to protect him.
Some 2,000 people attended a memorial event for Zarhum in Tel Aviv on Wednesday.
As reported by The Times of Israel