Two Israelis were moderately wounded on Tuesday night in a shooting attack on Route 60 in Huwara, located just outside Nablus in Samaria.
The victims came under fire while driving through town and were wounded by glass shards when bullets shattered the windows of their vehicle.
Magen David Adom emergency medical personnel treated the victims in their 30s who were then evacuated to Beilinson Hospital in Petach Tikvah.
“Both victims are classified as moderately wounded,” said Dr. Yoni Mendel, a doctor in the hospital’s emergency department, to journalists, adding that the two are “currently undergoing evaluation and imaging.”
Israeli security forces launched a manhunt for the terrorist or terrorists and secured the scene of a shooting attack in Huwara, in Samaria, near Nablus.
Last month, a Palestinian terrorist killed Shay Silas Nigrekar, 60, and his 28-year-old son Aviad Nir in Huwara.
That attack took place after the two men had stopped at a car wash in the Palestinian Authority-controlled village.
The terrorist walked up to the car wash on foot, opened fire at close range with a handgun and fled in a vehicle.
Huwara has emerged as a center of Palestinian terrorism, prompting Israeli authorities to heighten security there.
In June, an Israeli driver was lightly injured by glass shards in a shooting near the town, a day after two IDF soldiers were wounded when a terrorist rammed into them with his vehicle there.
“The IDF recently upgraded the road infrastructure in Huwara to increase security for drivers on Route 60, the main north-south highway in Samaria that passes through the village,” said JNS.
The changes followed a series of terrorist attacks there, including the murder of brothers Hallel Yaniv, 21, and Yagel Yaniv, 19, as they sat in traffic on Feb. 26.
Seventy-one percent of Palestinians supported the terrorist murder of the brothers, according to a Palestinian public opinion poll. Only 21% of those surveyed were against the attack.
Dual Israeli-U.S. citizen David Stern, 41, narrowly survived a shooting attack on March 19 as he drove through Huwara with his wife on their way to Jerusalem.
In addition to the infrastructure changes, a large number of IDF soldiers have been deployed to the area and 13 new defensive positions were built to discourage attacks and to reduce security forces’ response times.
The IDF’s Samaria Brigade has bolstered security inspections, including the deployment of additional checkpoint barriers.
The main section of a road that bypasses Huwara will open after the High Holidays, which begin on Friday with Rosh Hashanah.
Israeli Transportation Minister Miri Regev recently toured the site together with the head of the Samaria Regional Council, Yossi Dagan. The two leaders announced that the road would open two months ahead of schedule due to the danger facing Judea and Samaria residents, who—without an alternative—are forced to drive through Huwara.
Produced in association with Jewish News Syndicate
Edited by Judy J. Rotich and Newsdesk Manager
