Three Israelis were killed and eight others injured in a shooting attack on a bus and cars in Samaria, also called the West Bank, on Jan. 6, according to Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service.
The attack took place near the Jewish town of Kedumim. It was also close to the Arab village of Jit, the site of an Aug. 15 attack by masked Jewish settlers who set cars and buildings on fire and killed one resident.
The dead included two women in their 70s and a man around 40 years old.
Terrorists opened fire from a passing vehicle from the village of Funduk before they made their escape.
Victims Rachel Cohen, 73, and Aliza Reiss, 70, were both school counselors. Cohen left behind five daughters. Reiss also had children.
Victim Elad Yaakov Winkelstein was an Israeli police staff sergeant major, according to Magen Adom.
Cohen and Reiss were riding in one of the cars that was hit, while Winkelstein was driving one of the other cars. A 63-year-old bus driver was seriously wounded.
A terrorist organization naming itself “Galilee Forces—Lone Wolves” took responsibility for the attack.
Hamas praised it as “a heroic response against the occupation’s continued crimes.”
Hamas spokesman Abu Ubaida said in a social media post that “Israel will never enjoy security” unless the Palestinian people also have it.
The attack comes against the backdrop of recent West Bank violence, as well as the continuation of the Gaza war.
Two West Bank Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces on Jan. 5, one near Jenin and one in the Askar camp in Nablus.
The Palestinian Authority, which administers much of the Israeli-occupied area, last month cracked down on activity by Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Jenin, a stronghold of terrorist activity. The authority has sought to reassert its control of the West Bank.
The West Bank is the center of numerous tensions.
Israeli security fears arms being smuggled from Iran through Syria and Jordan into the area for use in terror attacks.
Palestinians worry about relentless Jewish settlement, leading advocates for which include Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition members Itamar Ben Gvir, the national security minister, and Treasury Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
They have pressed, with Netanyahu in power, to develop the Jewish presence on the West Bank, building new developments, improving roads, and designating new lands for future settlements.
Palestinians see this as lessening the possibility of a future independent Palestinian state.
Residents accuse each other of violence.
Palestinians point to incidents such as the Jit attack, while Palestinians have carried out scores of shooting, stabbing, and car-ramming attacks against Israelis.
Israeli leaders went on a rhetorical counterattack after the incident.
Netanyahu promised to “reach the despicable murderers and hold them accountable.”
Defense Minister Israel Katz said he instructed the Israel Defense Forces to “act forcefully in every location to which the murderers’ tracks lead.”
Smotrich, who lives in Kedumim, called for an urgent cabinet meeting “to discuss a shift in strategy and to genuinely eradicate terrorism.”
Israeli Army Radio said the military had imposed a cordon around all the villages in the area to search for the suspects.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
From The Epoch Times