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The Palestinian army and medics said three Israelis were killed and eight others were wounded when Palestinians fired on a bus and two cars in the occupied northern West Bank.
The deceased were identified as two women in their 60s and a 35-year-old police officer. The bus driver was seriously injured.
The Israeli army said “terrorists” opened fire on vehicles near the village of al-Funduq, which is on Highway 55, and then fled.
Israeli media cited military officials as saying that at least two Palestinians who fired shots were responsible for the attack and that the security forces were pursuing them, setting up barricades and surrounding several towns in the region.
Magen David Adom paramedic Avichai Ben Tzurya described it as “a terrible attack that spread across the road involving several vehicles”.
“We conducted a quick investigation and found two women and a man in private vehicles with no impact, suffering from fatal gunshot wounds. We had no choice but to declare them dead at the scene,” he said in a statement.
“Inside the bus, we treated people with gunshot and glass injuries, including the bus driver – who was conscious and suffering from gunshot wounds – and extras who suffered moderate to moderate injuries.”
The injured were transferred to two hospitals in central Israel.
Later, Israeli police identified the victim as Master Sgt Elad Yaakov Winkelstein, a police investigator at Kibbutz Ein Hanatziv in northern Israel who works in the West Bank where he lives in Ariel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to prosecute what he called “disgusting killers” along with anyone who helped them.
“No one escapes,” he wrote on X.
There was no immediate statement from the Palestinian Authority, although Hamas praised the attack as “a counter-terrorist response. [Israel’s] continuing crimes”, including the war in Gaza.
Hundreds of Palestinians and many Israelis have been killed in violence in the West Bank since the start of the conflict, which was triggered by a deadly attack by Hamas in southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
On Sunday, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said two Palestinians – a 17-year-old boy and a 40-year-old man – were killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank.
The teenager was shot dead during an Israeli attack on the Askar refugee camp near the city of Nablus, which is 10km (6 miles) east of al-Funduq, it said.
Israel’s military says its forces have fired on people who bombed them in the Nablus area, according to Reuters. It added that a “collision has been identified” and that the incident is being investigated.
The man was killed in the town of Meithalun, 21km northeast of al-Funduq, where the Israeli military said Border Police killed a gunman during which 19 other people were arrested.
