JERUSALEM, Israel – A terrorist in northern Israel emerged from a car Sunday afternoon and reportedly shot 2 young Israeli men sitting in another car, killing them both. The incident brings the death toll in the past month to 13 Israelis killed in terrorist attacks, and residents in the northern West Bank (biblical Samaria) are urging the government to take stronger action.
The alleged shooter fled the area, and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have begun a manhunt.
According to I24 News, the shooting took place near the Arab village of Huwara, south of Nablus (biblical Shechem, home of Joseph’s Tomb), the site of frequent terrorist activity and a number of Israeli security raids in recent months.
Huwara lies on Route 60, a road traveled by many Israelis to reach Jewish communities in Samaria. The terrorist reportedly used an M16 automatic weapon.
The chair of the Samaria Regional Council, Yossi Dagan said, “Unfortunately, this is a very serious incident, the government must change the paradigm and move from defense to offense. It cannot be that in the middle of the day, terrorists are free to shoot innocent civilians.”
Arutz Sheva reported Sunday morning that Israel had agreed to reduce its counter-terrorism operations to attend an emergency summit Sunday with the Palestinian Authority, which included officials from the U.S. and Egypt, at the Jordanian Red Sea port of Aqaba. The agreement was designed to give the Palestinian Authority time to arrest suspected terrorists in areas such Nablus, rather than the IDF.
After Sunday’s shooting, Dagan insisted, “The ferocity of terrorism proves that there is no deterrence. The instructions for opening fire must be changed, the checkpoints must be returned, and the terrorist infrastructure of the Palestinian Authority must be proactively degraded.”
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