Three Israelis were killed and eight others wounded in a shooting attack on a bus and two cars in the northern occupied West Bank on Sunday.
The assault, which the Israeli military described as a terrorist attack, took place near the village of al-Funduq, located on Highway 55. The dead victims have been identified as two women in their 70s and a 35-year-old police officer.
The women, named Aliza Reiss, 70, and Rachel Cohen, 73, were residents of the West Bank settlement of Kedumim, located just 3 kilometers (2 miles) northeast of al-Funduq.
They were reportedly traveling in the same vehicle when it was shot at. The third victim, Master Sergeant Elad Yaakov Winkelstein, 35, was a police investigator from Kibbutz Ein Hanatziv in northern Israel, who worked in the settlement of Ariel.
The attack occurred when at least two gunmen opened fire on the vehicles. According to Israeli military sources, the attackers then fled the scene, prompting an extensive manhunt. Israeli security forces set up roadblocks and encircled several nearby towns in pursuit of the suspects.
Magen David Adom paramedic Avichai Ben Tzurya described the scene as “a very serious attack spread across the road involving multiple vehicles.”
He confirmed that two females and one male were found in private cars, all suffering from severe gunshot wounds and without vital signs. The victims were pronounced dead at the scene.
The bus driver, who was seriously injured, was treated at the scene along with other passengers who had sustained injuries from gunshots and shattered glass. The wounded were subsequently evacuated to hospitals in central Israel.
The attack has raised tensions in the region, as violence between Israelis and Palestinians has escalated since the outbreak of the war following the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. The Israeli government has vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the attack, calling it an “abhorrent murder,” and pledged that those responsible, along with any accomplices, would be held accountable. “No one will get away,” he wrote on social media platform X.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz further pledged that Israel would not tolerate a Gaza-like situation in the West Bank and instructed the military to take “forceful” action against any locations connected to the attackers.
The attack has yet to be claimed by any Palestinian armed group, though Hamas has publicly praised the assault, calling it a “heroic response” to what they described as Israel’s continued “crimes,” including its ongoing war in Gaza.
The incident comes amidst a broader surge in violence in the West Bank, where hundreds of Palestinians and dozens of Israelis have been killed in clashes since the war’s escalation.
On Sunday, the Palestinian Health Ministry reported that two Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces in separate incidents in the West Bank.
A 17-year-old boy was shot during an Israeli raid in Askar refugee camp near Nablus, while a 40-year-old man was killed in the town of Meithalun during a military operation.
As the situation continues to worsen, both Israeli and Palestinian casualties are rising, and the prospects for peace remain uncertain.