Israeli killed in terror attack at Gush Etzion Junction in the West Bank; 3 others wounded

A man was stabbed to death and three other people were wounded in a terror attack on Tuesday at the Gush Etzion Junction in the West Bank.

The victim was later identified as Aharon Cohen, 71, a resident of the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba near Hebron. A spokesperson for the settlement said he was set to be buried later on Tuesday evening.

The attack was carried out by two Palestinian assailants who accelerated their vehicle into people at the junction, before one got out and stabbed several victims, according to preliminary findings by the Israel Defense Forces.

Both terrorists were shot dead by security forces at the scene, the IDF and first responders said. They were later identified by Palestinian officials as Imran al-Atrash and Walid Sabarneh, both 18.

In the aftermath of the attack, several explosive devices were discovered in the vehicle and disarmed.

Medics who arrived at the scene after the attack were forced to pronounce the fatally wounded victim dead at the scene.

Three other victims were transported from the scene to hospitals in Jerusalem, the Magen David Adom ambulance service said, including a woman in her fifties in serious condition, along with a 30-year-old man and a 15-year-old boy in moderate condition.

The woman was apparently mistakenly hit by the Israeli troops’ gunfire.

Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem said that the woman, 55, was listed in serious condition after sustaining gunshot wounds to her lower body.

Shaare Zedek Medical Center, which received the other two injured people, said both were conscious. The 30-year-old man was lightly injured, it said, and the teenager was in moderate condition.

Following the attack, the IDF said several explosives were located inside the car belonging to the terrorists and had been disarmed by Border Police sappers.

According to Israeli defense officials, the two terrorists had set out from the West Bank city of Hebron.

Announcing the identity of the attackers, the Palestinian Authority health ministry said that Imran al-Atrash hailed from Hebron and Walid Sabarneh from the nearby town of Beit Ummar.

The ministry said it was informed of their deaths, meaning that their bodies are being held by Israeli authorities.

Numerous troops were deployed to block roads around the scene of the attack, encircling nearby Palestinian villages and carrying out scans in the area, the IDF said.

Commenting on the attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel is “determined to complete the war on all fronts.”

Completing the war includes “disarming Hamas and demilitarizing the Gaza Strip to ensure that Gaza will not pose an even greater danger,” he said, adding that Israel has struck the Iranian axis from every side, and is capable of doing so again.

Speaking at the scene of the attack later on Tuesday evening, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir lauded the reservist troops who “demonstrated their willingness to stand on the front line,” after they shot dead both Palestinian assailants.

“Today we experienced a difficult incident in which an Israeli civilian was murdered and three others were wounded. The reserve soldiers once again demonstrated their fighting spirit and their willingness to stand on the front line. Alongside the difficult incident, I want to express great appreciation and commendation,” he said.

“In today’s event, we saw [troops] engaging, determination, and professional conduct, just as we expect,” Zamir said, adding that the troops “acted with vigilance and composure and thwarted a threat to Israeli civilians.”

“We will be required to continue to remain alert alongside intensified and offensive activity; this is our mission in protecting the communities and residents,” the IDF chief added.

In response to the deadly attack, Yisrael Beytenu chair Avigdor Liberman blamed the terrorism on the government’s “feebleness and submissiveness.”

“When terrorism smells weakness, it raises its head and goes out to kill,” he said in a statement. “Terror attacks are not a decree of fate, but a struggle that requires determination, strength and independence, everything that this government of negligence does not have.”

The Yesha umbrella council for West Bank settlements appeared to draw a line between the attack and the US-sponsored resolution passed by the UN Security Council last night, which authorized the establishment of an international force to secure the Gaza Strip and indicated a path to Palestinian statehood.

“When Israel quietly enables a path to a Palestinian state, terrorism again raises its head,” the Yesha Council said. “We said all along, it is either [Israeli] sovereignty [via annexation] or a Palestinian state [in the West Bank]. The Israeli government is refraining from sovereignty and we are getting a tailwind in the sails of a terrorist state in the heart of the country.”

Yesha demanded that Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Boaz Bismuth push forward a bill that would apply sovereignty to the West Bank.

In October, the Knesset passed two annexation bills in preliminary readings, despite opposition from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. US President Donald Trump has vowed that he will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank.

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett, who is mounting a bid for the premiership in the next elections, also blamed the government for the terror attack.

“Oslo on steroids,” he declared in a statement that appeared to refer to Netanyahu’s support of Monday’s UN Security Council vote to adopt the US-sponsored resolution on Gaza.

“A government that, after the most horrific massacre in the country’s history, awards the enemy the prize of a Palestinian state, bears responsibility for reigniting terrorism against Jews. We will fix it soon,” Bennett said, referring to the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, invasion of Israel that triggered the war in the Gaza Strip.

The Oslo peace accords in the 1990s created the Palestinian Authority to administer parts of the West Bank and Gaza, although the PA was later ousted from Gaza by Hamas in 2007.

While Netanyahu and his government have rejected the establishment of a Palestinian state, the US last week organized a joint statement declaring that Trump’s plan offers a pathway to one in the future.

The Gush Etzion attack was the latest violent incident in the West Bank, which has recently seen a spate of attacks by Jewish extremists on Palestinians and their property, including an assault Monday in the village of Jaba.

Sam Sokol, Lazar Berman and Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.