The victim who was shot and killed Thursday in a terrorist attack outside a shopping center in Gush Etzion was named by authorities as 22-year-old Shalev Zvuluny from Kiryat Arba, who was working as a security guard in the nearby settlement of Efrat when two gunmen opened fire in the parking lot of the Harim Mall in the first deadly attack in the West Bank in nearly two months.
The assailants—identified as Mahmoud Abed, 23, from Halhul, and Malek Salem, 23, from Tulkarm—were killed by armed Israeli civilians following a brief firefight. The IDF said both attackers were members of the Palestinian Authority police, and Salem was a graduate of a military college in Qatar.
The attackers reportedly arrived at the scene in a stolen blue car with Israeli license plates and waited in the car before ambushing the guard.
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Security sources believe the gunmen had knowledge of the site’s layout and its high foot traffic during Thursday afternoons. Witnesses said the assailants stole Zvuluny’s weapon and used it to shoot him at close range. "There were many shots, a lot of adrenaline," said one of the armed civilians who intervened. Another responder, who works in a nearby religious store, said he saw a fellow mall guard return fire, helping to stop the attackers.
The terrorist attack in Gush Etzion
(Video: Meiri Mizrahi)
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The attackers reportedly arrived at the scene in a stolen blue car with Israeli license plates
(Photo: Alex Kolomoisky)
The Gush Etzion Regional Council expressed condolences to Zvuluny’s family and said it would support them in the difficult days ahead. Council head Yaron Rosenthal emphasized the region’s historic and strategic importance, vowing to maintain its presence and security despite the attack.
The IDF has been working since the outbreak of the war in Gaza to prevent escalation in the West Bank, and terror incidents in the area had decreased in recent months. However, Thursday’s shooting marks a concerning development. On Wednesday, the military warned of an uptick in Israeli civilians illegally entering Palestinian cities, particularly Tulkarm and Qalqilya, amid high cost of living and a false sense of security.