A man in his 30s was killed Sunday in a drive-by shooting near a spring outside the West Bank settlement of Neve Tzuf, prompting security forces to launch a manhunt for the assailant on the eve of Yom Kippur.
Paramedics and emergency medical personnel found the man unconscious inside a vehicle near the Ein Raya spring in the Binyamin region and provided treatment at the scene. He was taken to Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva, where doctors later pronounced him dead. His son, who was in the vehicle at the time of the shooting, was not injured.
The tense moments of the deadly shooting attack
(Video: from social media)
Footage from the scene showed several visibly frightened people bathing in the spring as gunfire could be heard in the background.
Paramedic David Trachtenberg said emergency crews pulled the wounded man from the vehicle and immediately began lifesaving treatment.
“We got the wounded man out of the vehicle and immediately began providing lifesaving medical treatment,” Trachtenberg said. “We put him in the ambulance and, with the help of a doctor and another paramedic, immediately began evacuating him to the hospital while fighting for his life, providing medical treatment and blood products in the hope that his condition would stabilize.”
The IDF said large numbers of troops were searching for the terrorist and setting up roadblocks across the area.
The scene of the shooting attack near Neve Tzuf
(Video: from social media)
“Following a report that was received of a shooting attack in the Neve Tzuf area, numerous IDF soldiers were dispatched to the area and launched a pursuit after the terrorist. The soldiers are establishing roadblocks in the area,” the military said.
Security camera footage showed a red Mitsubishi Outlander from which the shots were fired. An initial investigation found that the attacker abandoned the vehicle nearby and fled on foot.
Security forces deployed special units to the area, including the IDF’s Duvdevan undercover counterterrorism unit. The Israeli Air Force dispatched an attack helicopter to assist forces searching the area.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir ordered additional forces to be deployed to support the continuing manhunt for the terrorist.
Israel Gantz, head of the Binyamin Regional Council and chairman of the Yesha Council, an umbrella organization representing Israeli settlements in the West Bank, said at the scene that residents had come to immerse themselves in the spring ahead of Yom Kippur when the gunman arrived.
“Residents come ahead of Yom Kippur to immerse themselves in the spring, and a terrorist arrives armed with an M-16 and opens fire on them,” Gantz said. “One of the residents was very seriously wounded and is being taken to the hospital. The IDF, police, Shin Bet and Border Police are all hunting for the terrorist.”
Gantz called the shooting “a very difficult incident” but said residents would not be deterred from returning to the area.
“With God’s help, on Sukkot this place will be filled with visitors,” he said. “No one will drive us out of here.”
The scene of the shooting attack near Neve Tzuf
(Video: Magen David Adom)
Yossi Dagan, head of the Samaria Regional Council, said he was praying for the recovery of the wounded man, whom he identified as a Samaria resident, and praised Israeli troops involved in the manhunt.
Dagan also called on security forces to intensify operations in Palestinian villages, conduct house-to-house searches for illegal weapons, dismantle what he described as terrorist infrastructure and immediately restore security checkpoints on West Bank roads.
“Terrorists must not be allowed to move freely, and we must not wait for the next attack,” Dagan said. “The State of Israel must move from defense to offense and restore deterrence and security for residents. The settlement movement will never be broken.”
Shortly after the shooting, troops from the Paratroopers Brigade’s 890th Battalion killed a Palestinian who the military said attempted to carry out a vehicle-ramming attack near the former settlement of Ganim in the northern West Bank, in the area overseen by the Menashe Brigade.
The scene of the shooting attack near Neve Tzuf
(Photo: from social media)
A second Palestinian who was in the vehicle was arrested, the military said. No Israeli troops were injured in the incident.
The attacks came amid heightened IDF alert in the West Bank ahead of the Jewish fall holidays.
The military said Nahal Brigade troops have searched more than 1,200 buildings and other sites across the territory in recent months, uncovering, among other things, a laboratory used to manufacture explosive devices. Large numbers of armored vehicles have also recently been seen operating around Nablus.
IDF forces are operating across the West Bank under the military’s regional brigades in the areas of Judea, Menashe, Ephraim and Samaria. According to the military, troops have questioned about 930 suspects in the field and arrested about 230 wanted Palestinians as part of the recent operations.
More than 100 weapons have been seized, including M-16 rifles, submachine guns, handguns, magazines and large quantities of ammunition, the military said.
The increased military presence has also been visible around Huwara, near Nablus, where advanced Eitan armored personnel carriers carrying Nahal troops have been seen alongside forces conducting routine operations. Images distributed by international news agencies showed the armored vehicles traveling in relatively large convoys.
The military has raised its readiness to the highest level ahead of Yom Kippur, with particular attention also being paid to the upcoming Sukkot and Simchat Torah holidays.
Thousands of Israeli visitors are expected to travel through the West Bank during the holiday period, visiting tourist sites, established settlements and recently established settlement outposts. The military has reinforced troops along major roads and around areas of heightened friction to provide security for visitors.