Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu said late Sunday afternoon PA leaders must take 'severe steps' against the murderer(s) of Ben Yosef Livnat.
Netanyahu's statement was issued after an unexplained silence from his office following the Sunday morning murder of culture and science minister Limor Livnat's nephew by PA security forces at Joseph's Tomb in Shechem (Nablus).
"A young man whose sole purpose on the eve of the second Pesach holiday was to pray, was vilely murdered in cold blood, and left behind a wife and four orphans," Livnat told reporters.
PA security forces opened fire early Sunday on three cars full of Israelis who entered Joseph's Tomb to pray the morning service, killing Ben Yosef Livnat and wounding four others, one critically. The Israeli group did not, according to PA and IDF sources, coordinate their entry to the site.
The accepted procedure for dealing with unauthorized entry to the area, however, is detaining the Israeli's in question until the IDF arrives and escorts them away. The PA security officer who opened fire reportedly justified the killing based on "suspicious movement."
"No problem of coordination can justify an incident like this and the shooting of innocent people," Barak said, calling the incident no less than "murder."
Netanyahu spoke to Minister Livnat on Sunday to expressed his deep condolences for her loss.
Ben Yosef Livnat was a 25 year old father of four. He was laid to rest Sunday in the Mount of Olives Cemetery.
