An Israeli religious student was killed and two wounded Thursday when their car came under gunfire near a settlement in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
The shooting follows a string of attacks by Palestinians on Israelis in Jerusalem and the West Bank.
More than 10 rounds were fired at the vehicle, Shefler said, blaming Palestinians.
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The Magen David Adom rescue service said medics unsuccessfully worked to revive a passenger in the car’s back seat who was unconscious after getting shot.
Shefler said the three young men “were driving outside of the yeshiva from Homesh,” which he said was “an illegal outpost.”
The Samaria regional council said in a statement that the victim was Yehuda Dimentman, a married father who lived in the Shavei Shomron settlement and studied at a yeshiva in Homesh.
The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said soldiers blocked entrances to Nablus following the attack, leaving hundreds of Palestinian drivers stuck on the roads.
“Security forces will get their hands on the terrorists very soon and we’ll ensure that justice is served,” he added.
“We will increase our vigilance and readiness to thwart terror in Judea and Samaria, and will continue to take any measures necessary in facing terror groups in the area.”
“This operation proves once again that our heroic Palestinian people in the West Bank will continue their legitimate struggle until the occupier is expelled from all of our Palestinian land and its settlers are swept away,” the group said in a statement.
Last week Israeli police arrested a 14-year-old Palestinian girl on suspicion of stabbing her neighbour, an Israeli Jewish resident of a settlement in a contested neighbourhood of east Jerusalem.
Israeli rights group B’tselem reported last month about 450 attacks by settlers on Palestinians since early 2020. In many incidents of settler violence the army stood by or assisted the attackers, the group said.
Yigal Dilmoni, head of the Yesha Council settler umbrella group that Bennett once led, said Thursday, “the wild incitement against settlers in Judea and Samaria gives a tailwind to terrorists to carry out these difficult attacks.”
Palestinians eye the West Bank and east Jerusalem as part of their future state, while hardline Israelis view the areas as a heartland of Jewish history.
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