Israeli security forces on Wednesday apprehended the terrorist cell involved in Sunday's shooting attack at a bus stop near the Samaria settlement of Ofra. The cell's leader was killed in a gunfight with Israeli forces.
The Shin Bet security agency said Salah Barghouti, 29, was killed on Wednesday evening in a clash with Israeli forces operating in the Palestinian village of Kaubar, near Ramallah.
Salah is the son of Omar Barghouti, a senior Hamas operatives who served a lengthy prison term in Israel for terrorist activities.
Four other people believed to be members of his terrorist cell were arrested in the raid, the Shin Bet said.
Shortly after the incident, Hamas, the terrorist group that rules the Gaza Strip, issued a statement claiming responsibility for Sunday's deadly shooting and saying that Barghouti was one of its operatives.
"Hamas announces with great pride the death of its martyr Salah Barghouti, the perpetrator of the heroic Ofra operation," the group said on its official Twitter page.
Palestinian media reported Barghouti was killed when Israeli troops opened fire on a taxi he was traveling in en route to Surda, a Palestinian village outside Ramallah.
The PA's official news agency, Wafa, said clashes broke out between Israeli troops and Palestinian youth near Barghouti's home, adding that two people were injured by live fire.
A Shin Bet statement confirmed that Barghouti was killed "while trying to harm Israeli troops and evade arrest."
"The Shin Bet security agency, IDF and Israel Police will continue to spare no effort to protect the Israeli public and ensure those who carry out terrorist attacks against Israelis are brought to justice," the statement said.
Seven Israelis, including 30-weeks pregnant Shira Ish-Ran and her husband, Amichai, were wounded in Sunday's shooting.
Ish-Ran sustained critical injuries, including gunshot wounds to her abdomen, and doctors had to deliver her baby via emergency Cesarean section. The boy was in critical condition from which he was unable to recover and on Wednesday evening, doctors at Shaare Zedek Medical Center announced the infant had died.
News that the terrorist cell that perpetrated the shooting had been eliminated broke as hundreds of people gathered at Jerusalem's Mount of Olives Cemetery for the newborn's funeral.
Shortly before he was laid to rest, the infant was named Amiad Yisrael.
"Only a few people have ever managed to unite the nation of Israel as you did," the baby's grandfather, Refael Ish-Ran, eulogized in a broken voice over the grave.
"You brought so much light. And with all the light that you brought, we will extinguish their [the terrorists'] darkness," he said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement of condolences saying, "Our hearts are with Shira and Amichai over the passing of their 4-day-old son. The murderers are abhorrent, the most deviant criminals on earth."
President Reuven Rivlin also extended his condolences to the family, who he called "true heroes."
"We are with you, embracing you, and will not rest until this despicable terrorism is uprooted," he said.
U.S. Special Representative for International Negotiations Jason Greenblatt took to Twitter and called the infant's death "absolutely heartbreaking."
Noting that Hamas had lauded the attack, he said, "The countries that raised the vote threshold at the U.N. for our resolution against Hamas, were absent, abstained or voted against our resolution to condemn Hamas should absorb this news and understand their actions."
Habayit Hayehudi leader Naftali Bennett also sent his condolences to the family and urged a harsh Israeli response to the deadly attack.
"A Jewish baby was murdered. This is a despicable murder by terrorists who have stopped fearing us. We must restore the lost deterrence; otherwise, a wave of murders is on the way," he said.
