Tragic Shooting in West Bank Claims Lives of Three Israelis

Three Israelis have died and eight sustained injuries in a shooting assault by Palestinians on a bus and two vehicles in the northern region of the occupied West Bank, according to reports from the Israeli military and medics.

The deceased were recognized as two women in their 70s and a 35-year-old police officer. The bus driver suffered serious injuries.

The Israeli military stated that “terrorists” opened fire on the vehicles close to al-Funduq village on Highway 55, subsequently escaping the scene.

Military officials were quoted in Israeli media indicating that at least two Palestinian gunmen executed the assault and that security forces were on their trail, erecting roadblocks and surrounding several towns in the vicinity.

Magen David Adom paramedic Avichai Ben Tzurya referred to it as “a very grave assault dispersed across the road involving multiple vehicles”.

“We performed rapid searches and found two females and a male in private vehicles without any pulse, suffering from serious gunshot injuries. We had no option but to declare them deceased at the scene,” he expressed in a statement.

“Within the bus, we treated victims of gunfire and injuries from shattered glass, including the bus driver – who was conscious and suffering from gunshot wounds – along with other individuals in mild to moderate condition.”

The injured were transported to two hospitals in central Israel.

Subsequently, Israeli media identified the deceased women as 70-year-old Aliza Reiss and 73-year-old Rachel Cohen.

Both were inhabitants of the West Bank settlement of Kedumim, which lies 3km (2 miles) north-east of al-Funduq on Highway 55, and they were reportedly traveling in the same vehicle when they came under fire.

The Israeli police force identified the deceased male as Master Sergeant Elad Yaakov Winkelstein, a police investigator from Kibbutz Ein Hanatziv in northern Israel who was stationed in the settlement of Ariel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to bring to justice those he labeled as the “despicable murderers” and anyone who assisted them.

“No one will escape,” he stated on X.

Defence Minister Israel Katz mentioned that he instructed the Israeli military to “act decisively in every location” associated with the assailants, asserting that Israel would “not permit a Gaza-like situation” in the West Bank.

There was no immediate acknowledgment from Palestinian armed groups, although Hamas commended the attack as a “heroic response against [Israel’s] ongoing offenses,” including the warfare in Gaza.

Hundreds of Palestinians and dozens of Israelis have perished amid a spike in violence in the West Bank since the beginning of the conflict, which was instigated by Hamas’s lethal assault on southern Israel on 7 October 2023.

On Sunday, the Palestinian health ministry reported that two Palestinians – a 17-year-old boy and a 40-year-old man – were killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank.

The youth was killed during an Israeli raid at the Askar refugee camp near Nablus, which is located 10km (6 miles) east of al-Funduq, according to the report.

The Israeli military stated that its personnel fired upon individuals who had thrown explosives at them in the Nablus region, as reported by Reuters news agency. They added that “a hit was confirmed” and that the incident is under review.

The man was killed in the town of Meithalun, positioned 21km north-east of al-Funduq, where the Israeli military indicated that Border Police officers shot an armed suspect during an extensive operation that resulted in the arrest of 19 other individuals.