Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to catch the “despicable murderers” behind Monday’s terror attack in the West Bank that killed three Israelis, including a police officer.
Off-duty Master Sgt. According to The Times of Israel, Elad Yaakov Winkelstein and sisters-in-law Rachel Cohen and Aliza Raiz were killed by gunmen who fired on vehicles in the Palestinian village of al-Fanduk.
Eight others were injured in the attack – including a 63-year-old bus driver – and Israeli forces have launched a search for two suspected shooters linked to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group, the Jerusalem Post reports.
“My wife and I express our deepest condolences to the families of the three people killed in this morning’s horrific attack and wish the injured a full recovery,” Netanyahu wrote on Twitter. Those who helped him, no one will be spared.”
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Israeli emergency responders arrive at the site of a terrorist attack on the West Bank on Monday, January 6. Three Israelis were killed when militants fired on a bus and other vehicles. (Nadav Goldstein/TPS-IL)
An eyewitness who spoke to Israel’s press service called the attack a “shooting spree”.
He said, “I saw a Palestinian … take an M16 out his back window and aim at vehicles and then I realized it was an attack.” “And I saw the vehicles overturning and all this chaos and then I realized they were coming towards me in a second and I was in the front line so I started firing at them.”
The witness said, “I’m a civilian and I have my own personal gun. If they had given me an M16 I think their situation would have been different.”
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office denied reports that Hamas had sent a list of hostages to be released in the event of a deal.
Three Israelis were killed and eight wounded after a terrorist attack on a bus and other vehicles in the village of al-Fanduk in the West Bank. (Nadav Goldstein/TPS-IL)
A paramedic from Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency medical service told the Jerusalem Post that the attack “spread to several locations where vehicles and a bus were hit by gunfire.”
“During our initial search of casualties, we found 2 women in a vehicle, unconscious, with gunshot wounds, without a pulse or breathing,” Avichai Ben Zuria said. “About 150 meters away, there was an unconscious driver who had also been shot. After medical evaluation, unfortunately, his injuries were severe, and we had to pronounce him dead.”
According to the Jerusalem Post, Winkelstein is listed as 40 years old, while Cohen, 73, is a school counselor and mother of five. Raiz, 70, is also a school counselor, the outlet said.
Israeli policemen block a road after gunmen opened fire on cars and a bus carrying Israelis in the occupied West Bank near the Palestinian village of al-Fanduk on Monday, January 6, killing at least three people. Death occurred. (AP/Nasser Nasser)
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The Palestinian militant group Hamas issued a statement praising the attack, the Associated Press reported.
