Another Armed Attack in the West Bank Claims Two Israeli Lives

Israeli media reported on Thursday, December 22, that in an armed attack near a settlement in the West Bank, two Israelis were killed and two others were seriously injured. The attack occurred on Thursday morning on the Jewish-settler road in Benjamin, on the outskirts of Jerusalem. Israeli media did not explicitly mention the military status of the victims, but Palestinian media described them as soldiers. According to the Ynet news website, an armed Palestinian man exited a vehicle and opened fire on Israeli 'military and civilian' individuals standing at a bus station, then returned to the car where a driver was waiting and fled towards Palestinian areas. Hundreds of Israeli forces were dispatched to pursue the vehicle towards nearby villages and roads. No Palestinian organization has claimed responsibility for the attack yet. Hours earlier, the Israeli army announced that Majd Moteir, a Palestinian from East Jerusalem, had attacked two Israeli soldiers, including a female soldier stationed in Arab neighborhoods, with a knife, injuring them; however, the male soldier, who was only slightly injured, shot the assailant. Earlier this week, in an armed attack on an Israeli family on the Jewish-settler road in Ofra in the West Bank, a pregnant mother and her husband were injured; doctors delivered the woman's seven-month-old fetus, but the newborn died three days later. After the assailants from the Sunday attack fled, Israeli security announced on Wednesday night that they had identified the main perpetrator, 29-year-old Saleh Omar Barghouti, in the village of 'Kobar' near Ramallah in the West Bank, and killed him while he was 'attempting to escape,' wounding and arresting a relative named Waad Barghouti. Israeli security also reported on Wednesday night that they had identified Ashraf Na'alweh, a Palestinian who had killed a female office worker and a technician in an attack on an Israeli factory in the Barkan area two months ago, and killed this assailant in the West Bank. The Israeli army announced that the homes of the perpetrators of these attacks would also be demolished. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister and Minister of Defense of Israel, stated on Thursday: 'The long and strong arms of our security forces will find and punish those who endanger the security of the people and the country, wherever they are.' Palestinian organizations' statements indicate that the Thursday morning operation on the Benjamin road was a response to the Israeli security forces' operation the day before, which resulted in the killing of the assailants from recent attacks. Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad praised the attacks on Thursday and in previous days against Israeli soldiers and civilians. The Fatah movement, led by Mahmoud Abbas, also stated on Thursday: 'The Palestinian martyrs have watered the soil of Palestine with their pure blood.' These events occur following a period of relative calm in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.