GUSH ETZION — A 22-year-old Israeli security guard was murdered Thursday afternoon in a brutal terror attack at the Gush Etzion Junction, the exact location where Ari Fuld was killed in 2018. The victim, identified as Shalev Zvuluny from Kiryat Arba, was stabbed and then shot by two Palestinian Authority police officers in what the IDF described as a “combined shooting and stabbing attack.”

According to Israeli security forces, the two terrorists arrived at the busy shopping complex by a stolen vehicle and ambushed Zvuluny outside the Rami Levy supermarket. After stabbing him, they seized his handgun and opened fire. A soldier in civilian clothes and an armed civilian shopper swiftly returned fire, killing both assailants. The civilian described to Channel 12 that he had been at the checkout line when he heard gunshots and ran outside with the soldier to neutralize the attackers.

The terrorists were later identified as Mahmoud Abed, 23, from Halhul, and Malik Salem, 23, from Tulkarem. Both were active-duty members of the Palestinian Authority Police Force, having completed their training only months earlier. Neither had a prior record with Israeli security.

The location is tragically familiar. In September 2018, American-Israeli Ari Fuld, a well-known pro-Israel activist and IDF veteran, was murdered at the same junction. Thursday’s attack has reignited concerns over the continued security threat posed by radicalized Palestinian Authority personnel operating under the guise of law enforcement.

While the PA is ostensibly a partner in Israeli-Palestinian security cooperation, a growing number of attacks have been perpetrated by members of its official security forces. According to a 2024 report by the Regavim movement, at least 76 members of the Palestinian Authority Security Forces (PASF) were involved in terror attacks over a three-year period. This includes 44 killed while committing attacks, 25 arrested, and seven wounded. The trend represents a serious breach of the trust placed in the PA’s U.S.-trained security personnel.

Thursday’s attack is the latest in a string of such incidents. In February 2024, a PA police officer killed two Israeli civilians at a gas station near Eli. In April 2023, a Palestinian policeman rammed into Israeli soldiers near Beit Ummar.

Despite the increasing evidence that members of the PA security apparatus are turning their weapons on Israelis, the Biden administration has doubled down on its support for the force. In 2023, the U.S. State Department funded the training and equipping of over 5,000 Palestinian Authority police officers at a Jordanian facility under the banner of counter-terrorism cooperation. Critics have questioned whether radicals are exploiting these efforts to gain tactical training and access to weapons.

“The United States must ask hard questions about who they’re training and what safeguards are in place,” said a senior Israeli security official who asked to remain anonymous. “We’ve seen time and again that the people they arm are the ones killing our citizens.”

The attack comes amid a broader wave of Palestinian terror following the Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which 1,200 Israelis were killed and hundreds taken hostage. Since then, the IDF has arrested over 6,000 Palestinians in counter-terror operations in Judea and Samaria, including 2,350 Hamas operatives. According to the IDF, 53 Israelis have been murdered in terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank since October 7, while eight Israeli soldiers were killed in counter-terror operations in the West Bank.

Meanwhile, over 950 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank, most of whom were armed operatives or violent rioters engaging Israeli forces.

Thursday’s attack is a sobering reminder that the threat of terrorism is not only external but embedded within the institutions the international community insists are part of the solution. When police uniforms become camouflage for murderers, Israel must rethink its approach—and its partners.

As the victims’ families mourn and Israelis grapple with another senseless loss, serious questions remain about the policies enabling the killers to carry badges and guns in the first place.