A Palestinian man with Israeli citizenship went on a shooting rampage in several towns in central Israel on Sunday, killing one person and wounding five others, according to Israeli police. The attacker was killed by police.
The number of places where people were shot initially raised concerns that there could be multiple, coordinated attackers who had crossed over from the West Bank — evoking memories of the Hamas-led attacks in October 2023 — before police eventually determined that it was a lone gunman and an accomplice.
Rescue services Magen David Adom said that it received the first reports of a shooting at a gas station near the town of Kokhav Yair, located on the Israeli side of the boundary with the West Bank, at around 10:30 a.m. Several other shooting reports were received soon afterward, in the towns of Tsur Natan, Tsur Yitzhak, and close to the Israeli settlement of Sal’it, located inside the West Bank.
Police arrested a second person involved in the attack later Sunday. The man attempted to stab police with a glass bottle during the arrest, but there were no injuries, police said. Additional investigations were ongoing.
Israel’s Channel 12 reported that the attacker stayed in his car while shooting, allowing him to reach several locations within a matter of minutes.
A 35-year-old Israeli man was killed in the town of Kokhav Yair, according to Israel’s rescue services, Magen David Adom. One of the victims fled to a McDonald’s restaurant where his bloodstained clothes, which were likely cut off by paramedics, were crumpled on the floor near the entrance.
A total of five people were wounded in the shootings, two in severe condition and three moderately injured, Magen David Adom said. Rescue services had initially reported six injured in the chaotic aftermath of the attack.
Residents in the area were instructed to stay at home and children were kept in lockdown at school for at least three hours, according to the regional council head.
“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.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the quick action of the security forces. Israel’s public security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, who oversees the police, also commended the work of the security forces that apprehended him. He published a video on X standing next to what appeared to be a blurred out image of the attacker’s body and proclaimed “this is the end of every terrorist, this is how it should look.”
“This is the result for terrorists, who need to be eliminated — preferably in the field, if not under the framework of the death penalty law for terrorists we passed,” he said.
Ben-Gvir has come under sharp condemnation from other Israeli leaders for making contentiuos videos, such as his treatment of flotilla activists who were detained after attempting to break the maritime blockade to Gaza, to drum up support among his conservative base, especially before Israel’s legislative election in the fall.
Tensions have been high in Israel and the West Bank, surging in the territory since the war in Gaza began in October 2023.
Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 as hostages. Israel’s ensuing offensive in Gaza has killed more than 72,000 Palestinians, including combatants and civilians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Also on Sunday, at least four Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.
The strike hit a police point in the southern city of Khan Younis. The four dead were taken to a field hospital run by the Red Crescent, the charity said. At least 10 others were wounded, it said. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strike but has said in the past it will target militants that pose a threat to its troops.
