Gunman opens fire in central Israel, killing 1 and wounding 5
Palestinian attacker shot dead by police after targeting several locations close to the boundary with the occupied West Bank
A Palestinian man with Israeli citizenship went on a shooting rampage in several towns in central Israel on Sunday, killing a reservist and wounding five other people, according to Israeli police and the military. The attacker was killed by police.
The attack came at a time of heightened tensions following a spate of Israeli settler attacks, and the deadly shooting of a Palestinian baby over the weekend, in the nearby West Bank. Police identified the attacker as a resident of the Arab town of Taybeh in his 20s, but his precise motives weren’t immediately known.
The attack began with a shooting Sunday morning at a petrol station near the town of Kokhav Yair, located on the Israeli side of the boundary with the occupied West Bank. Several other shootings were reported in two nearby Israeli towns and close to the Israeli settlement of Salit, inside the West Bank.
Police initially feared a series of coordinated attacks, but eventually determined that a gunman and an accomplice who may have served as his driver were involved. The suspected accomplice was arrested later after he tried to stab police with a glass bottle.
Israel’s military said that a 55-year-old reservist was killed near Tzur Natan. The Magen David Adom rescue service said that five other people were wounded, two severely.
Fears of a widespread attack prompted authorities to order residents to stay at home, and children in the area were kept in lockdown at school for at least three hours.