Three Israelis killed in Palestinian shooting attack in West Bank
2025-01-06
Category: news

Three Israelis have been killed and eight wounded in a Palestinian shooting attack on a bus and two cars in the north of the occupied West Bank, the Israeli military and paramedics say.The dead were identified as two women in their 70s and a 35-year-old police officer. The driver of the bus was seriously wounded.The Israeli military said "terrorists" opened fire at the vehicles near the village of al-Funduq, located on Highway 55, and then fled the scene.Israeli media cited military officials as saying at least two Palestinian gunmen carried out the attack and that security forces were pursuing them, setting up roadblocks and encircling several towns in the area.
Magen David Adom paramedic Avichai Ben Tzurya described it as "a very serious attack spread across the road involving multiple vehicles"."We conducted quick searches and identified two females and a male in private cars without a pulse, suffering from severe gunshot wounds. We had no choice but to pronounce them dead at the scene," he said in a statement."Inside the bus, we treated victims of gunshots and shattered glass injuries, including the bus driver - who was conscious and suffering from gunshot wounds - as well as additional victims in mild to moderate condition."The wounded were evacuated to two hospitals in central Israel.Later, Israeli media identified the women who were killed as 70-year-old Aliza Reiss and 73-year-old Rachel Cohen.They were both residents of the West Bank settlement of Kedumim, which is 3km (2 miles) north-east of al-Funduq on Highway 55, and were reportedly travelling in the same car when it came under fire.Israel's police force named the dead man as Master Sergeant Elad Yaakov Winkelstein, a police investigator from Kibbutz Ein Hanatziv in northern Israel who worked in the settlement of Ariel.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to bring to justice what he called the "abhorrent murderers" along with anyone who aided them."No-one will get away," he wrote on X.Defence Minister Israel Katz said he had told the Israeli military to "act forcefully in every location" linked to the attackers, and vowed that Israel would "not tolerate a Gaza-like reality" in the West Bank.There was no immediate claim from Palestinian armed groups, although Hamas praised the attack as a "heroic response against [Israel's] continued crimes", including the war in Gaza.Hundreds of Palestinians and dozens of Israelis have been killed in a surge in violence in the West Bank since the start of the war, which was triggered by Hamas's deadly attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023.On Sunday, the Palestinian health ministry said that two Palestinians - a 17-year-old boy and a 40-year-old man - were killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank.The teenager was shot dead during an Israeli raid in Askar refugee camp near the city of Nablus, which is 10km (6 miles) east of al-Funduq, it said.The Israeli military said its troops fired on people who had hurled explosives at them in the Nablus area, according to Reuters news agency. It added that "a hit was identified" and that the incident was under review.The man was killed in the town of Meithalun, 21km north-east of al-Funduq, where the Israeli military said Border Police officers killed an armed suspect during a wider operation in which 19 other people were arrested.