Key takeaways:
- Magen David Adom said a 35-year-old man was killed and five people were wounded, including two in serious condition, in shootings near Kokhav Yair, Tsur Yitzhak and Tsur Natan.
- Israeli police identified the suspected gunman as a Palestinian citizen of Israel from Tayibe and said the weapon used in the attack was found.
- CBS News reported police arrested a second person involved in the attack, while Al Jazeera reported police said they killed two suspects allegedly involved.
A Palestinian man with Israeli citizenship opened fire across several communities in central Israel on Sunday, killing a 35-year-old man and wounding five other people before police killed him, Israeli authorities and medics said.
The shootings unfolded around 10:30 a.m., when Magen David Adom, Israel’s rescue service, received the first reports of gunfire at a gas station near Kokhav Yair, on the Israeli side of the boundary with the West Bank. More reports followed within minutes from Tsur Natan, Tsur Yitzhak and near the Israeli settlement of Sal’it, inside the West Bank.
The spread of the attacks initially raised fears that multiple gunmen may have crossed from the West Bank in a coordinated assault. Police later determined there was one gunman and an accomplice, CBS News reported. Police said the suspected shooter was a Palestinian citizen of Israel from the nearby city of Tayibe. They said the weapon used in the attack was found.
Magen David Adom said the man killed in the attack died of gunshot wounds in Kokhav Yair. Five other people were wounded, including two in serious condition and three with moderate injuries. The rescue service had initially reported six injured amid the confusion after the shootings. The wounded were taken to two hospitals.
Israel’s Channel 12 reported that the attacker remained in his car while shooting, allowing him to reach several locations within minutes. One victim fled to a McDonald’s restaurant, where bloodstained clothes, apparently cut off by paramedics, were left on the floor near the entrance, CBS News reported.
Israeli police said officers, border guard soldiers and special units searched for additional suspects after the attack. Police later arrested a second person involved in the attack, CBS News reported. Police said the man tried to stab officers with a glass bottle during the arrest, but no one was injured. Al Jazeera reported that Israeli police said they killed two suspects allegedly involved in the shooting; in a later account, it said police killed one suspect following a manhunt.
“The public is asked to be vigilant, obey the instructions of the police and report any suspicious incident or person to the police,” police said.
Lior Zilberberg of Magen David Adom said emergency crews were taking part in a large training exercise nearby when reports of multiple gunshot victims came in.
“We immediately stopped the exercise and set out with intensive care units and ambulances to the gas station in Kochav Yair, Tzur Yitzhak, and Tzur Natan,” Zilberberg said. “During the drive, civilians signalled me to stop and called me to provide medical treatment to an unconscious casualty inside a vehicle. He was pulseless and not breathing, with gunshot wounds to his body, and after medical assessments we were forced to pronounce him dead.”
Residents were told to stay indoors, and children remained locked down at school for at least three hours, according to the head of the regional council.
“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, told Israeli media.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the security forces’ response. Public Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir also commended police and posted a video on X beside what appeared to be a blurred image of the attacker’s body. “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.
Hamas praised the attack as a “heroic” operation but did not claim responsibility, Al Jazeera reported.
The shootings came amid continued violence tied to the war that began after Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed more than 72,000 Palestinians, including civilians and combatants, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Also Sunday, at least four Palestinians were killed and 10 wounded in an Israeli airstrike on a police point in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, the Palestinian Red Crescent said. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on that strike.
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