Nine people were wounded Thursday in a shooting attack near the Giti junction when a gunman opened fire on a bus traveling from Tel Aviv to Ariel. One victim remains in critical condition. The assailant, who was previously detained for security offenses, was quickly neutralized by security forces at the scene. Hamas has claimed responsibility for the attack.
According to reports, the attacker – Samer Hussein, 46, from the village of Einabus, located about 4 miles south of Nablus – left his village in an unregistered vehicle, armed with a standard military rifle and wearing combat gear.
The terrorist stopped his vehicle approximately 500 feet before the junction, proceeded on foot, and attacked the transit stop. Security forces guarding the location engaged and neutralized the attacker within seconds, preventing a potentially greater casualty event.
The terrorist was eliminated by soldiers from the Bari Battalion, a unit established by former Member of Knesset Lt Col Yoaz Hendel to address manpower shortages in the IDF. The battalion primarily consists of former special forces operators who had been exempted from combat service due to age.
Israel Gantz, head of the Binyamin Regional Council and chairman of the Yesha Council, responded: "This severe shooting attack carried out by an armed terrorist equipped with combat gear clearly shows Iran's fingerprints in funding and arming terror in Judea and Samaria."
"We pray for the recovery of the wounded and demand resolute action to change the reality in Judea and Samaria. We must act against Iranian terror in the region with the same determination shown against terror in Gaza and Lebanon – through population displacement and dismantling terror cells. We call on the prime minister and defense minister to direct the IDF to conduct a large-scale operation in Judea and Samaria aimed at dismantling terror cells and restoring security to the region," Gantz added.
