Fresh acts of violence have occurred in the West Bank, with at least one fatality and eight individuals injured in what Israeli authorities have labeled as a terrorist incident. The assault took place in Maale Adumim, according to Israeli emergency services.
On Thursday morning, a trio of armed individuals unleashed an attack with automatic weapons on several vehicles near a settlement in the West Bank near Jerusalem. The degree of injuries varies among the victims, as reported by Israeli police.
The incident unfolded near the settlement of Maale Adumim, to the east of Jerusalem. Police reports indicate that the attackers arrived at the scene in a vehicle.
The attackers disembarked from their vehicle and started shooting their automatic weapons at the vehicles stuck in a traffic jam en route to Jerusalem, as detailed in the statement. Two of the attackers were neutralized on the spot, and a subsequent search led to the discovery of a third attacker attempting to flee, who was also neutralized.
This incident closely follows a similar attack in southern Israel near the town of Kiryat Malakhi, where two individuals were fatally shot.
Violence has been escalating in the West Bank, with tensions further exacerbated by the outbreak of the Gaza war on October 7 between Israel and the Hamas, a Palestinian Islamist movement.
The West Bank has borne witness to numerous attacks by Palestinians against Israelis, with the Israeli army frequently conducting potentially deadly raids.
According to the Palestinian Health Ministry in Ramallah, since the onset of the Gaza war, Israeli troops and settlers have claimed the lives of at least 400 Palestinians in the West Bank.
Israel seized control of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, during the Arab-Israeli War in 1967. Palestinians view this territory as the core of their future sovereign state.
The Gaza war was initiated by Israel in response to an unprecedented attack by Hamas on October 7, which resulted in approximately 1,160 fatalities in Israel, the majority of whom were civilians. This is according to an AFP report that utilized official Israeli data. In contrast, the death toll in the Gaza Strip stood at 29,313, as per the Hamas health ministry.
