The military said Wednesday it confirmed that a Palestinian suspect killed by troops in the West Bank town of Bruqin over the weekend carried out last week’s deadly terror shooting in the area.
In the attack on May 14, near Bruqin and the settlement of Bruchin, a Palestinian terrorist opened fire from the side of a road on Israeli motorists, killing Tzeela Gez, 30, and wounding her husband. Gez had been heading to a hospital to give birth.
Beilinson Hospital staff conducted an emergency C-section to save the newborn, who remains in serious condition. He was named Ravid Haim, a name Gez had chosen, a statement on behalf of the family said Tuesday.
As troops were searching the area on Saturday, a suspect with a backpack ran toward them while shouting “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest). He was then shot dead.
Following an investigation led by the Shin Bet, police, and Israel Defense Forces, it was revealed that the suspect, Naael Samarah, carried out the shooting attack, a joint statement said.
Samarah, a member of Hamas, was previously jailed for his activity in the terror group. He was released in 2010 and jailed again for several days in 2019 for online incitement, according to the military.
The IDF said that in his backpack, troops found an assault rifle and other equipment used to carry out the terror attack.
His home, near Bruqin, was mapped by IDF troops ahead of its demolition on Wednesday, the military said in a statement, in accordance with Israel’s policy of demolishing the homes of Palestinians accused of carrying out deadly terror attacks.
Several additional Palestinians suspected of involvement in the attack have been arrested, including one accused of being the head of a terror cell that Samarah was part of.
The cell, according to the IDF, carried out three other shooting attacks in the area in recent months, including one near Ariel on March 12, in which an Israeli civilian was moderately wounded.
The West Bank has seen a surge in violence since Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip ignited the war there.
Since then, troops have arrested some 6,000 wanted Palestinians across the West Bank, including more than 2,350 affiliated with Hamas. According to the Palestinian Authority health ministry, more than 950 West Bank Palestinians have been killed in that time. The IDF says the vast majority of them were gunmen killed in exchanges of fire, rioters who clashed with troops, or terrorists carrying out attacks.
There has also been a significant increase in settler violence against Palestinians since the start of the war.
During the same period, 52 people, including Israeli security personnel, have been killed in terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank. Another eight members of the security forces were killed in clashes with terror operatives in the West Bank.