Israeli civilian killed, one wounded in drive-by terror shooting; Israeli forces launch manhunt
IDF calls up special units to assist in search for terrorists
Israeli military and police forces began a large-scale manhunt for the terrorists who killed a civilian and wounded another in a drive-by shooting in northern Samaria on Sunday afternoon.
The first victim, a man in his twenties, was shot and killed by terrorists while driving on Highway 90 in the Jordan Valley in northern Samaria, also known as the West Bank.
He was later identified as Yonatan Deutsch (23) from Beit Shean.
The terrorists then continued about a tenth of a mile further down the road, where they shot another man, who was later identified as Anes Jaramnah (32) an Arab-Israeli from a town in the north. Jaramnah was wounded and in moderate condition but was able to keep driving until security forces found him and evacuated him to the Rambam Medical Center in Haifa by helicopter.
“My brother called me and said that someone had shot him,” Jaramnah’s brother Muhammad told Israeli media. “He asked me to come to him and hung up.”
Muhammad said that his brother was recovering well, according to the doctor who was treating him at the hospital.
Rambam Hospital later reported that Jaramnah sustained shrapnel wounds but did not suffer damage to any vital organs and would not require surgery.
The IDF estimates that 2 or 3 terrorists carried out the attack, with one driving and one or two others shooting. Security forces “began a pursuit of the terrorists, blocking roads and conducting extensive searches in the area,” the IDF said.
The IDF also stated that it knows the direction in which the terrorists' vehicle fled.
According to bullet casings found on the scene, the IDF estimates the attack was carried out with a long rifle, rather than a handgun, which are easier and cheaper to procure.
As part of the ongoing search for the terrorists, IDF troops raided several Palestinian villages in the northern Jordan Valley, in the area of Tubas, which is a well-known terror stronghold that has been the target of numerous IDF operations in past months.
To aid in the manhunt, the IDF called up the special undercover commando unit Duvdevan, as well as a fast reaction reserve force of the Jordan Valley Regional Brigade, the IDF 636th field observation unit and other forces.
The All Israel News Staff is a team of journalists in Israel.
