2 wounded in shooting attack
Man and woman moderately and lightly injured after being shot near Tapuah Junction; Large IDF forces scouring the area
Two Israelis were wounded in a shooting attack at the Tapuah Junction in the West Bank Thursday night. The al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades took responsibility for the attack.
IDF forces were mobilized to the Tapuah Junction area following reports of the shooting between the Tapuah Junction and the settlement of Migdalim, Samaria. Two Israelis, a man and a woman, were injured by the shooting. The man was moderately wounded in his stomach and the woman was lightly wounded in the hand.
Large IDF forces were rushed to the scene following the reports. Magen David Adom paramedics also rushed to the area to provide first aid to the casualties. The crews evacuated the man and woman to Beilinson hospital in Petah Tikva in light and moderate condition.
IDF forces were scanning the area for the perpetrators. It is still unclear whether the shots were fired from a moving car, or from a stationery position.
Paramedic describes scene
Tal Shahar, a volunteer emergency paramedic with the Magen David Adom, who was among the first rescue workers to arrive on the scene, told Ynet: “I was at my house in Kfar Tapuah when I got the message on my beeper from the Samaria Regional Council. I left in the direction of the attack with three more MDA emergency medical technicians and rescue volunteers, and within half a minute we were there."
"We saw IDF forces had started treating the man who had been driving the car – he was sitting in the car, wounded by a bullet in his lower abdomen. One of us joined the army forces, and I went to the woman, who was wounded in the hand and was waiting outside the car,” he related.
Shahar said that the right back window of the car was shattered, and there was a bullet wound through the driver’s seat. “The woman, who was very excited, said that a long string of bullets was fired towards them, about two kilometers from the Tapuach Junction.” An ambulance arrived shortly, and the two were evacuated to hospital, Shahar said.
Lieberman: This is argument against convergence
Head of the Council of Jewish Settlements in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip and the Samaria Regional Council, Benzi Leiberman, said the attack was further proof that Israel’s withdrawal from the territories only leads to terrorism. Consistent terror attacks prove that the “solution to continuing terror is not submission, retreat or escape,” Leiberman told Ynet.
“Only when we prove that we are determined to fight terror face to face can we bring tranquility to the people of Israel. This should be (Prime Minister) Ehud Olmert’s prime working premise when he goes to the United States, who understands things better than him, which is apparent in its cold reception of the convergence plan,” he added.
Terror alerts in Jerusalem
In the afternoon hours the security forces received information on a suicide bomber planning on penetrating the capital and carrying out an attack. Jerusalem police declared a high state of alert, which was decreased after an hour. The alert was raised again however. Roadblocks were fortified across the city and vehicle checks have been increased.
Security has also been increased at checkpoints around Jerusalem. Following a situation analysis in the afternoon, the second heightened level of alert was ended.
Security related tension continues in the south too, following the firing of six Qassam rockets from northern Gaza at Israel. One rocket fell near a strategic facility and another fell at a parking lot near a reserves base in Zikim.
There were no injures and no damage was caused.
