A woman in her early 40s was killed after being hit by a car on Thursday at the entrance to the Havat Gilad outpost in Samaria, about 4 miles southwest of Nablus.
The woman was treated by paramedics at the scene but succumbed to her injuries on the way to the hospital.
Security forces launched a manhunt to search for the driver of the vehicle, who turned himself in to Palestinian security services in Nablus shortly after the incident.
According to the driver, the incident was an accident. He said he fled the scene because he was afraid.
Following an initial inquiry, IDF and Shin Bet security agency investigators concluded that the incident was most likely an accident. However, other avenues of investigation are also being explored.
"When we arrived at the scene," a Magen David Adom paramedic said, "we saw a woman in her 40s lying in the ditch on the side of the road. She was unconscious, did not have a pulse, wasn't breathing and had suffered multiple internal injuries. We administered emergency treatment but she was in critical condition and a short while later we had to pronounce her death."
Some residents of the Samaria Regional Council, where the victim lived, believe her death was intentional. The head of the Samaria Regional Council, Yossi Dagan, remarked Friday that "from our perspective, this is a terrorist attack in every sense of the word."
"The intersection [where the incident occurred] is well lit, there are light posts," Dagan continued. "There is no evidence of skid marks or an attempt to stop [the vehicle], not before the site of impact nor after. In other words, the driver wasn't surprised. As far as we're concerned this is another horrific case of cold-blooded murder, of a resident of Samaria on a main road in the State of Israel."
On January 9, Rabbi Raziel Shevah, 35, was shot and murdered near Havat Gilad. Shevah was a father of five and a resident of the community. Another Israeli citizen was critically wounded in that attack.
On July 26, Yotam Ovadia, a father of two, was stabbed to death in the community of Adam where he lived, north of Jerusalem.
