TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Multiple gunmen carried out shooting incidents in areas adjacent to the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Sunday, resulting in one fatality and five injuries, Israeli emergency services reported.
Authorities confirmed they fatally shot one gunman. Extensive military operations involving ground troops and aerial units swept the region searching for other potential attackers. The multiple locations of the shooting incidents initially sparked fears of a coordinated assault.
Emergency response teams from Magen David Adom reported receiving initial shooting alerts from a fuel station near Kokhav Yair, a community on the Israeli side of the West Bank border, around 10:30 a.m. Additional shooting incidents were subsequently reported in Tsur Natan, Tsur Yitzhak, and near the Israeli settlement of Sal’it within the West Bank territory.
Authorities identified the gunman as a Palestinian citizen of Israel from the neighboring Arab community of Taybeh.
Local residents received orders to remain indoors while schools implemented security lockdowns, according to regional leadership.
“Since Oct. 7, the scenario we were expecting was terrorist crossing into our towns from over the boundary, I don’t think that anyone imagined that we would discover the attackers were Israeli citizens,” Oshrit Gani Gonen, the regional council head for the area that includes the towns where the shootings took place, told Israeli media.
