Israel Matzav

Liveblog: And again: Terror attack in Samaria

Two people have been injured in a terror attack at the Rimonim junction in Samaria, just outside Jerusalem. One them has been injured critically.

Shots were reportedly fired at a vehicle traveling in the area between the settlement Kochav Yaakov and Rimonim Junction in the West Bank on Wednesday night.

Police who arrived in the area found one person critically injured and one person slightly injured.

The event is being treated as a terror attack. Security forces were on the scene searching for the terrorist's vehicle.

I'll liveblog this for a while....

UPDATE 12:28 AM

It's not as close to Jerusalem as I thought. Here's a map.

The first report I quoted (JPost) put the attack near Kochav Yaakov, which is very close to Jerusalem, but in fact the attack was near Kochav HaShachar (as you can see from the map), which is a bit further out. Kochav HaShachar was where Chief Rabbi Metzger was heading with his driver when they were ambushed in an Arab village recently.

Here's more from Arutz Sheva.

According to reports, the male victim was moderately wounded and the woman was lightly wounded. The vehicle reportedly overturned after an Arab vehicle passed it and shot at it. The two are being transferred to Shaarei Tzedek Hospital in Jerusalem.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who is currently in Washington, was updated on the terror attack as he was making his way from the White House back to his hotel.

Shaare Zedek is good news. In Jerusalem, really badly injured people end up in Hadassah Ein Karem.

Haaretz adds:

Around 11 p.m., there were reports of a shooting in the Rimonim Junction area, and a car was found overturned after police and emergency crews conducted sweeps of the area.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said Palestinian gunmen ambushed the Israeli car, which was riddled with bullets, he said.

Preliminary reports said the attack was a drive-by shooting, executed in a similar fashion to Tuesday's attack. IDF troops are continuing to scour the area for the assailants.

Hamas claimed responsibility for Tuesday's shooting and vowed more attacks would come.

The victims are a couple, both in their 30s. The man is listed in serious condition, while the woman was lightly wounded in the attack.

An Israeli woman was killed near the same junction in 2002 when a terrorist shot at her car as she drove on a nearby road.

YNet adds:

The Palestinian security establishment has opened an investigation into the incident. A Palestinian security official told Ynet that the Palestinian Authority considered the attack as a grave incident and blamed Hams for "trying to return the West Bank into a state of anarchy, in order to thwart the political process."

On Tuesday security experts estimated that the resumption of peace talks with the Palestinians is seen by virtually all as time prone for terrorist attacks.

Hamas claimed responsibility for Tuesday's attack.

Reports here indicated that Abu Bluff was given quite a dressing down over Tuesday's terror attack by a furious White House.

UPDATE 1:00 AM

Israel Radio reports that they were shot by a car that passed them and that they were in fact taken to Hadassah Ein Karem (see my comment on that point above).

There are certain departments that only exist at Hadassah Ein Karem among Jerusalem hospitals.

UPDATE 1:44 AM

Welcome Jawa Report readers.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:22 AM