Northern West Bank shooting kills three Israelis
Three Israeli’s were killed in a shooting attack on January 6th near Kedumin, within the north of the occupied West Bank, according to Israel’s ambulance service.
According to Israeli Army Radio, the military had enforced a cordon around all the villages in the area to look for all the suspects, who it believes are now in a nearby Palestinian village, Middle East Online via Reuters reports.
The shooting attack was on a car and bus, on a major road used by both Israelis and Palestinians, according to Reuters.
Footage found on Israeli news sites showed at least two men come out of a car and allegedly open fire on vehicles nearby, around the village of al-Funduq in Palestine, down the road from Kedumim.
Israel’s finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, who lives in the settlement where the attack happened, ordered an urgent cabinet meeting “to discuss a shift in strategy and to genuinely eradicate terrorism”.
Smotrich wrote that the northern west bank cities of Nablus and Jenin “should look like Jabalia,” which is a town in the north of the Gaza strip that is in ruin due to ongoing Israeli bombardment.
READ: Gaza: Three more journalists killed in Israeli attacks
Smotrich, who is on the far-right of Israeli politics, has pushed for Israeli sovereignty in the West bank.
Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, met with senior military and security officials to discuss the attack and the methods for catching the attackers as well as a “a series of additional offensive and defensive actions” in the West Bank.
Netanyahu said on X: “No one will be spared.”
Reuters reports that there was no immediate comment from the Palestinian authorities in the West Bank.
Hamas described the attack as a “heroic response against the occupation’s continued crimes (including) the war of genocide in Gaza.” The group did not claim responsibility for the attack.
Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, said he had told the military to “act forcefully” in response to the attack on January 6th.
Hamas spokesman Abu Ubaida said in a post on Telegram that “Israel will never enjoy security” unless Palestinians are also granted security.
Middle East Online, Reuters
