Aziz Salha, photographed preparator of Ramallah lynching, killed in IAF strike in Gaza - report

Aziz Salha, one of the perpetrators of the Ramallah lynching in 2000, was killed in an IAF strike in central Gaza, the IDF reported on Thursday.

Salha became famous for waving his hands out the window that were covered in the blood of two IDF reserve soldiers that he and other perpetrators of the lynching had murdered.

Nearly 24 years ago, IDF reservists Vadim Norzhich and Yosef Avrahami were lynched by a Palestinian mob while detained at the el-Bireh police station in Ramallah after accidentally entering the city controlled by the Palestinian Authority.

דיווחים פלסטיניים: עבד אל-עזיז סאלחה, ממשתפי הלינץ' ברמאללה בשנת 2000 בו נרצחו שני חיילי מילואים, שתמונתו מהלינץ' הפכה לאחת התמונות המזוהות ביותר עם הטרור הפלסטיני, חוסל בתקיפה של חיל האוויר במרכז רצועת עזה pic.twitter.com/fchWlIYEbG

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Since the lynching incident, Salha operated in the West Bank, retaining his involvement with Hamas until he was eliminated, the IDF noted in their report. Salha was arrested in 2001, however, he was released as part of the Gilad Schalit deal and deported to the Gaza Strip.

Events leading to the lynching

When the two accidentally arrived at the city, the reservists were detained by PA policemen and taken to the local police station in Ramallah's twin city, el-Bireh, close to the headquarters of PLO chief Yasser Arafat.

Rumors spread that Israeli undercover agents were being detained at the police station, prompting a crowd of over 1,000 to gather, calling for their deaths.

The IDF reservists were beaten and stabbed to death by the crowd, after which, Salha was photographed with his bloody hands in the air

In December 2022, another one of the perpetrators, Nasser Abu Hamid, died from cancer. He was a founder of Fatah's al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade.

Cody Levine and Tzvi Joffre contributed to this report.