Palestinian terrorists murdered three Israeli civilians and wounded eleven others in a West Bank attack.
Three terrorists belonging to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), on Monday morning, took up positions at the side of the road and opened fire at passing vehicles near the Israeli town of Kedumim.
“Three people were murdered and six were wounded when terrorists opened fire from a passing vehicle at a bus and a car on Highway 55 between Karnei Shomron and Kedumim in Samaria Monday morning,” the Israeli news website Arutz Sheva reported. “Significant numbers of security and medical forces are at the scene of the attack. A search is underway for the terrorists.”
The victims of the terror attack were identified as two women in their 70s and a 40-year-old off-duty policeman.
All three terrorist fugitives are believed to be hiding in or around the Palestinian Authority-controlled town of Nablus, a safe haven for Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and other terrorist groups.
The Israeli army launched a massive manhunt in the area after the attack. “The IDF said that it had dispatched a large number of troops, as well as an Israeli Air Force helicopter, to search for the terrorists,” The Times of Israel reported. “The army said it set up roadblocks near the attack site, and placed cordons around the city of Nablus and several other nearby villages.”
Footage from a surveillance video aired by the Israeli public broadcaster Kan shows a terrorist emerging from his car and driving away from the scene after the shooting.
The Jerusalem Post reported the plight of the terror victims:
Two women in their 70s and a man in his 40s were killed, and eight others were wounded in a shooting terror attack near Kedumim in the West Bank, Israel’s emergency medical response service, Magen David Adom (MDA) [the Israeli equivalent of the Red Cross] said on Monday.The man and women were later identified as Elad Yaakov Winkelstein, Rachel Cohen, and Aliza Reiss.Winkelstein was an Israel Police Staff -Sergeant Major. Cohen, 73, was a school counselor and the mother of five daughters. Reiss, 70, was also a school counselor and is survived by her children and family.MDA added that its paramedics were providing treatment to the 63-year-old bus driver who sustained serious wounds, a woman in her 60s in moderate condition, and six people who suffered from light wounds. They were subsequently transferred to the Rabin Medical Center-Beilinson Campus in Petah Tikva and the Meir Medical Center in Kfar Saba.
Following the deadly terrorist attack, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) vowed to intensify its ongoing counter-terrorism operation in the area. “We are engaged in intense and wide-ranging combat against terrorism in Judea and Samaria. We will intensify and continue this combat,” IDF Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen Herzi Halevi, said.
The Israeli military was closing in on the terrorists. “For the terrorists who carried out this attack, the clock is ticking. We will find out who perpetrated this attack and reach them,” the IDF chief assured.
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