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Aziz Salha, photographed mastermind of Ramallah lynching, killed in Gaza

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

Salha became famous for waving his hands out the window, which were covered in the blood of two IDF reserve soldiers whom 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 being held at El-Bireh police station in Ramallah after accidentally entering the Palestinian Authority-controlled city.

Since the lynching, Salha operated in the West Bank and maintained his involvement with Hamas until he was eliminated, the IDF noted in its report. Salha was arrested in 2001 but released and deported to the Gaza Strip as part of the Gilad Shalit deal.

Events leading to the lynching

When the two happened to arrive in the city, the reservists were arrested by PA police officers and taken to the local police station in Ramallah's twin city of El-Bireh, near the headquarters of PLO chief Yasser Arafat.

Rumors spread that Israeli undercover officers were being held at the police station, leading to a crowd of over 1,000 people gathering and demanding their deaths.

Palestinians take part in a “Land Day” protest and show their support for Gaza in the West Bank city of Ramallah March 30, 2024. (Source: REUTERS/Mohammed Torokman)

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

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

Cody Levine and Tzvi Joffre contributed to this report.



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