Two Israeli soldiers wounded in Huwara shooting
Two Israeli soldiers were wounded in a shooting in Huwara on Saturday evening.
Terrorists fired at a military post from a passing vehicle, in the third attack over the past month against Israelis in the Arab village just outside Nablus in Samaria.
The wounded soldiers were evacuated to the hospital, with one in serious and the other in moderate condition. The Israel Defense Forces said that a hunt for the terrorist was underway including roadblocks set up to inspect vehicles entering and exiting Huwara.
The two soldiers are in their 20s and serve in the Kfir Brigade, the largest infantry brigade in the IDF. They were being treated for their wounds at Beilinson Hospital in Petach Tikvah.
Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan said in a statement that the government has a responsibility to do more to protect Israeli civilians from Palestinian terrorism.
“I demand from the prime minister, the minister of defense and all the ministers of the government: The responsibility is on you, I demand that you return the barriers [so] that the [terrorists’] vehicle cannot arrive as it did in this attack and escape unhindered,” he said.
Dagan also called for the closure of shops in Huwara that he said caused traffic jams on the Route 60 highway that had enabled the previous two attacks in which the shootings took place at close range.
On Feb. 26, Israeli brothers Hallel Menachem and Yagel Yaakov Yaniv were killed in Huwara in a shooting while sitting in their car at a junction on the highway.
This was followed by another shooting on March 19 at the same junction, which seriously wounded a dual Israeli-U.S. citizen, David Stern, 41.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir responded to the attack with a call to pray for the wounded soldiers and to convene a Cabinet meeting immediately upon the return of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from his diplomatic visit to London.
“IDF soldiers and settlers in Judea and Samaria are traveling on terror-infested roads. The time has come to establish order in the village, to set up permanent checkpoints, to close the shops that pose a security risk and to maintain order—the writing is on the wall,” Ben-Gvir said.
Hundreds of Israelis protested at the entrance to Huwara on Saturday night after the latest attack, demanding that the government do more to protect Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria. A separate protest was held at the entrance to Nablus (biblical Shechem).
Following the murder of the Yaniv brothers, Israeli Transportation Minister Miri Regev pledged to accelerate the creation of a bypass road around Huwara whose construction was frozen under the previous government.
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