Jerusalem – Gunmen opened fire on a bus and other vehicles near a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Monday, killing three people and wounding seven, the Israeli army and emergency services said. Violence in the West Bank has increased dramatically since World War II war in Gaza erupted on October 7, 2023, following Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel.
“Paramedics have confirmed the deaths of three victims, including two women and a man,” emergency responder Magen David Adom said.
The IDF said troops were “pursuing the terrorists” who carried out the attack near the village of Al-Funduq.
“We will reach out to the despicable murderers and hold them, as well as all those who assisted them, accountable,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement from his office. “No one will be spared.”
Magen David Adom said paramedics provided treatment to seven people on the bus, including the driver, who was in serious condition. The two women killed in the shooting were in their 60s, while the man was in his 40s, MDA reported.
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“This was a serious attack that spread across multiple scenes, with vehicles and a bus struck by gunfire,” paramedic Avichai Ben Zruya said in a statement. “During our initial search for victims, we found two females, approximately 60 years old, in a vehicle, unconscious with no pulse or breathing, with gunshot wounds.”
The military said troops had set up roadblocks and surrounded several nearby towns to arrest the attackers.
Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said he had ordered the army to “act with force” to find the attackers.
“We will not tolerate a Gaza-like reality in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank), and anyone who follows the path of Hamas in Gaza and enables or harbors the murder and harm of Jews will face a high pay the price,” said Ben Gvir. X.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, another far-right member of the country’s ruling coalition, also warned of harsh consequences in the wake of the attack.
“Funduq, Nablus and Jenin should look like Jabalia,” he said in a statement, referring to a now destroyed city in northern Gaza“so that (the central Israeli city) Kfar Saba, God forbid, does not become the next Gaza.”
Violence in the West Bank has increased dramatically since the start of the war in Gaza. Israeli forces or settlers have killed at least 818 Palestinians in the West Bank since the start of the war, according to the Ramallah-based Health Ministry. Palestinian attacks on Israelis killed at least 25 people in the West Bank during the same period, according to Israeli official figures.
The IDF continued its intensive operations in Gaza over the holiday period, drawing warnings from the United Nations and humanitarian groups in particular due to raids on hospitals and camps for displaced civilians.
Talks led by the US and its partners in the region to reach a ceasefire in the war have repeatedly fueled optimism that a deal is imminent, Foreign Minister Antony said during a visit on Monday to South Korea. Blinken acknowledged that this may not be possible to conclude a ceasefire before the end of President Biden’s term on January 20.
Newly elected President Donald Trump is expected to take a more sympathetic approach toward the Israeli government in the war, which he says he will end quickly, although he has given no indication on how he will achieve this feat.
