IDF troops blocked routes in and around Tulkarm overnight Wednesday with mounds of dirt as they searched for the terrorists who carried out the shooting attack on Wednesday evening in the northern West Bank that left Shaul and Rachel Nir wounded.
During the attack 23 bullets were fired at the Nir family's car. Shaul Nir was seriously injured and was taken to Beilinson Hospital at the Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva. Fortunately for his wife Rachel, some of the bullets fired by the terrorists hit her bag, in which there was a ten shekel coin and a bottle of water, thus sparing her from being more seriously wounded.
The Nir family live in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem and were at a Hanukkah candle lighting ceremony in the settlement of Avnei Hefetz in the northern West Bank. Their son Yitzhak said that "mom and dad were on their way home from my sister's, they were talking about the family when suddenly the shooting started. It burned her leg a bit, dad apparently lost consciousness and when he awoke he said 'my head hurts'. Mom spoke with him. Life is a miracle. Mom was not scared."
The Rabin Medical Center said Thursday that Shaul Nir's condition remains very serious. He is sedated and in intensive care and is expected to undergo additional surgeries during the morning.
Rachel was lightly wounded.