JNS
"We are engaged in a broad campaign against terrorism in Judea and Samaria, and we will continue that effort with full force. We will use every means at our disposal to track down the killers and bring them to justice,” said IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir.
Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said on Thursday that the military would use "every means at our disposal" to bring to justice the perpetrator of Wednesday night's deadly terror attack in Samaria.
Security forces were still searching for the terrorist who shot and killed Tzeela Gez, 30, and wounded her husband near the Samaria community of Bruchin as the couple drove to a delivery room.
Zamir instructed forces to maintain the security cordon and curfew around the area, and to press on with the manhunt alongside intensified counter-terror operations across the region.
“This was a brutal and painful attack in which an Israeli civilian was murdered on her way to the delivery room,” said Zamir.
“I share in the family’s deep sorrow. We are engaged in a broad campaign against terrorism in Judea and Samaria, and we will continue that effort with full force. We will use every means at our disposal to track down the killers and bring them to justice,” he added.
The Magen David Adom emergency service stated that around 10 p.m. on Wednesday, its emergency medical technicians and paramedics were treating a woman in her 30s in critical condition. They evacuated a man, variously reported to be in his 30s or 40s, in serious condition with gunshot wounds to the hospital, Magen David Adom said.
The emergency service said that the shooting took place on route 446, between Bruchin and Peduel. The area is some 10 miles east of Petah Tikva and about the same distance northeast of Ben Gurion Airport.
Gez’s baby was delivered in hospital. The infant is listed in serious but stable condition. The Rabin Medical Center’s Beilinson Hospital said that the neonatal unit at the Schneider Children’s MedicalCenter “fought all night for his life.”
The mother was pronounced dead on Thursday morning.
According to an English translation of an Arabic post, the Hamas terror group lauded the shooting, which it called "heroic."
Soldiers of the IDF's elite Duvdevan undercover counter-terrorism unit, working alongside Israel Border Police officers and at the direction of the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), eliminated five Palestinian terrorists during overnight counter-terrorism raids on Thursday.
During operations in the neighboring villages of Tamun and Tubas in northern Samaria, the troops targeted two buildings suspected of housing operatives from a local terrorist cell, the IDF stated.
The Duvdevan forces were said to have encountered a group of gunmen barricaded inside one of the buildings. Following an exchange of fire—including the use by the IDF of shoulder-fired missiles—five terrorists were killed, while the forces arrested one additional terror suspect.
The eliminated terrorist cell was planning "significant military-style terror activity," the IDF revealed, adding that the troops discovered three M-16 rifles, as well as four tactical vests, inside the buildings.
In a parallel raid in Tubas, Border Police officers detained three armed terrorists. The forces seized six M-16 rifles, a handgun, a grenade and other "combat equipment." Ready-made explosive devices were also discovered in the structure where the terrorists had been hiding out.
No injuries were reported among Israeli forces. The captured suspects and seized arms were transferred to the Judea and Samaria District Police and the Israel Security Agency for further investigation.
