IDF chief vows to bring pregnant woman’s killer to justice

The Israel Defense Forces will use “every means at our disposal” to bring to justice the perpetrator of Wednesday night’s deadly terrorist attack in Samaria, Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said on Thursday.

Security forces were still searching for the terrorist who shot and killed Tzeela Gez, 30, and wounded the pregnant woman’s husband near the Samaria community of Bruchin as the couple drove to the delivery room.

Gez’s baby was delivered in hospital. The infant is listed in serious but stable condition.

Zamir instructed forces to maintain the security cordon and curfew around the area, and to press on with the manhunt alongside intensified counter-terror operations across the area.

“This was a brutal and painful attack in which an Israeli civilian was murdered on her way to the delivery room,” said Zamir.

“I share in the family’s deep sorrow. We are engaged in a broad campaign against terrorism in Judea and Samaria, and we will continue that effort with full force. We will use every means at our disposal to track down the killers and bring them to justice,” he added.

According to an English translation of an Arabic-language post, the Hamas terrorist group lauded the shooting, which it called “heroic.”

Soldiers of the IDF’s elite Duvdevan undercover counter-terrorism unit, working alongside Israel Border Police officers and at the direction of the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), killed five Palestinian terrorists during overnight raids on Thursday.

During operations in the neighboring towns of Tammun and Tubas in northern Samaria, the troops targeted two buildings suspected of housing operatives from a local terrorist cell, the IDF stated.

The Duvdevan forces were said to have encountered a group of gunmen barricaded inside one of the buildings. Following an exchange of fire—including the use by the IDF of shoulder-fired missiles—five terrorists were killed, while the forces arrested one additional terrorism suspect.

The eliminated cell was planning “significant military-style terror activity,” the IDF revealed, adding that the troops discovered three M-16 rifles, as well as four tactical vests, inside the buildings.

In a parallel raid in Tubas, Border Police officers detained three armed terrorists. The forces seized six M-16 rifles, a handgun, a grenade and other “combat equipment.” Ready-made explosive devices were also discovered in the structure where the terrorists had been hiding out.

No injuries were reported among Israeli forces. The captured suspects and seized arms were transferred to the Judea and Samaria District Police and the Shin Bet for interrogation.