IDF Soldier Shot in Samaria as Attacks Mount; Gunfire Targeted Soldiers & Civilians

Shots fired at Israeli soldiers and civilians near Shechem were Sunday’s second shooting.

By: David Hellerman

An IDF soldier manning a checkpoint in Samaria was lightly injured by Palestinian gunfire on Sunday evening.

It followed a shooting attack earlier in the day on an Israeli bus and taxi taking special needs children to school children near Elon Moreh.

According to the IDF, the gunfire at the checkpoint targeted both soldiers and civilians. Soldiers returned fire and launched a manhunt for the terrorist.

Rescuers Without Borders, an emergency service, said the soldier was hit in the leg by gunfire on a road between the community of Itamar and a nearby IDF base.

The gunfire began towards the end of a rally protesting the morning shooting and calling for greater government action against Palestinian terror.

In the morning shooting, the driver of the taxi managed to continue driving to a nearby army base where he was treated by IDF medics. He is currently listed in light condition.

Sunday’s terror attack is the latest shooting in Samaria, with nearly 10 such attacks reported in Samaria in one week in late September.

A pair of shooting attacks were reported in a single evening that week.

Since the beginning of the year, the IDF has reported a sharp rise in shooting attacks in Judea and Samaria. About 70 such attacks have occurred since the beginning of 2022, compared to about 50 shooting attacks in all of 2021.

In related news, it was reported by TPS that an Arab woman stabbed and lightly wounded a female prison guard at the Rimon security prison on Sunday during a visit to one of her family members.

The Israel Prison Service (IPS) said that the terrorist, a 23-year-old resident of Shechem (Nablus)who arrived at the prison to visit her brother, attacked a guard with scissors during the security check procedure.

The guard and another officer “professionally and determinedly” took control of the terrorist and “prevented her from carrying out her intention to harm the staff,” the IPS stated.

The guard suffered a stab wound to her hand and was treated on the spot.

The woman was arrested by the police and taken for questioning.

Israel’s security system is on high alert as it fears a wave of terrorism during the Jewish High Holidays.

JNS reported that Israeli forces killed two Palestinians near Ramallah on Monday morning after the terrorists attempted to run the soldiers over.

The Israeli troops were engaged in counter-terror operations in the Jalazone refugee camp north of Ramallah, as part of a series of raids conducted jointly by Israeli security forces across Judea and Samaria overnight during which 16 security suspects were arrested.

On Sunday, a Palestinian woman stabbed an Israeli corrections officer during a visit to Nafha Prison in southern Israel, lightly wounding her. According to the commander of Dimona police station, initial investigation of the incident “raises suspicions” that the motive was nationalistic.

On the same day, an Israeli civilian was wounded  in a terrorist attack in Samaria, according to the Israeli military. The assailant or assailants opened fire at vehicles traveling in the area, hitting a bus and a car, lightly wounding the driver of the latter, the IDF said in a statement.

Also on Sunday, the Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet) and the Israel Police announced the arrest of six alleged members of an Islamic State terror cell in the Arab Israeli city of Nazareth in the country’s north.

(WorldIsraelNews.com, TPS,  JNS.org)