Three Israelis killed in Palestinian shooting attack in West Bank

The Israeli army and medics said that three Israelis were killed and eight others were wounded in a Palestinian shooting attack on a bus and two cars in the northern occupied West Bank.

The dead were identified as two women in their 60s and a 35-year-old police officer. The bus driver was seriously injured.

The Israeli army said that “terrorists” opened fire on vehicles near the hotel village on Highway 55 and then fled the scene.

Israeli media quoted military officials as saying that at least two Palestinian gunmen carried out the attack and that security forces were pursuing them, setting up roadblocks and cordoning off several towns in the area.

Magen David Adom paramedic Avichai Ben Tzoria described the attack as “a very serious attack that spread across the road and involved several vehicles.”

He said in a statement: “We conducted quick searches and identified two women and a man in private cars without a pulse, with serious gunshot wounds. We had no choice but to declare them dead at the scene.”

“Inside the bus, we treated victims of gunshot wounds and broken glass injuries, including the bus driver – who was conscious and suffering from gunshot wounds – in addition to other victims in mild to moderate condition.”

The wounded were transferred to two hospitals in central Israel.

The Israeli police force later announced that the man who was killed was Sergeant Elad Yaakov Finkelstein, a police investigator from Kibbutz Ein Hanatziv in northern Israel who was working in the West Bank settlement of Ariel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to bring to justice those he described as “hateful killers” along with everyone who helps them.

“No one will escape,” he wrote on the X.

Palestinian armed groups did not immediately announce any claim, although Hamas praised the attack and described it as a “heroic response against Israel.” [Israel’s] “Continuing crimes,” including the war in Gaza.

Hundreds of Palestinians and dozens of Israelis have been killed in escalating violence in the West Bank since the start of the war, which was sparked by a deadly Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health said on Sunday that two Palestinians – a 17-year-old boy and a 40-year-old man – were killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank.

She added that the teenager was shot dead during an Israeli raid in the Askar refugee camp near the city of Nablus, 10 kilometers east of the hotel.

The Israeli army said that its soldiers opened fire on people who threw explosive devices at them in the Nablus area, according to Reuters news agency. She added that “the injury has been identified” and that the incident is under review.

The man was killed in the town of Maithlon, 21 kilometers northeast of the hotel, where the Israeli military said border police officers killed an armed suspect during a broader operation in which 19 other people were arrested.