Two Israelis Killed in West Bank Terror Attack

A Palestinian terrorist opened fire inside a West Bank industrial zone Sunday morning October 7 2018 where Israelis and Palestinians work together, killing two Israelis and seriously wounding a third, the military said. 

Military spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said the preliminary finding is that a 23-year-old from a nearby village carried out a “terror attack” in the Barkan industrial zone near the settlement of Ariel before fleeing the scene.

But other workers in the industrial zone suggested the attack was carried out by a disgruntled employee and was not politically motivated.  Conricus said the suspect was not known to authorities and was not believed to belong to a Palestinian militant group, saying it appeared to be a “lone wolf” attack. “We know he is still armed and considered dangerous,” he added.  Both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman denounced the attack and said the perpetrator would be brought to justice. 

Since 2015, Palestinians have killed over 50 Israelis, two visiting Americans and a British tourist in stabbings, shootings and car-ramming attacks. Israeli forces killed over 260 Palestinians in that period, of which Israel says most were attackers. 

Gaza’s Hamas rulers and other militant groups praised Sunday’s attack, but none claimed responsibility for it.  One of the victims was identified as Kim Yehezkel, a 28-year-old mother of an infant son who worked in the office that was attacked. The other victim was said to be a Jewish man in his 30s. Another woman in her 50s was seriously wounded.


Closed-circuit footage from the scene showed a man holding a handgun and wearing a backpack, fleeing down a flight of stairs and then dashing past stunned onlookers.  Israeli media reported that those killed were found shot to death on their office floor with their hands bound. At his weekly Cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said they had been killed “with great cruelty.”