An off-duty Israel Defense Forces soldier and an Israeli civilian in Samaria were lightly wounded on Wednesday when Palestinians attacked them with rocks, the military said.
“Today, during civilian engineering work near the village of Duma in the Samaria Brigade [deployment area], dozens of Palestinian rioters threw stones at an off-duty IDF soldier and an Israeli civilian who were at the scene,” according to the statement.
Separately, police officers arrested in Ra’anana near Tel Aviv a man from the Judea and Samaria region, police said. The man is suspected of planning to carry out “security offenses,” the police statement said.
In January, an Israeli woman in her 70s was killed and at least 17 other people were wounded in a combined car-ramming and stabbing attack in Ra’anana.
During the incident involving rock throwing, the Arab perpetrators continued to target the Israeli soldier and civilian despite the soldier firing a warning shot. The IDF soldier then “fired to remove the threat, with a confirmed hit,” the military stated. The attack continued, with rioters attempting to snatch the soldier’s gun, until reinforcements arrived.
“Additional forces rushed to the scene, and the incident ended,” stated the army. “As a result of the stone-throwing, both the civilian and the soldier were lightly wounded and received treatment on the scene.”
According to the Hebrew-language outlet Israel National News, the riot targeted Jews who had established a new farming outpost in the area. The assault was reportedly carried out by at least 50 Palestinians.
Last year, Duma resident Ahmed Duabsha murdered a 14-year-old Israeli shepherd at the nearby herding outpost of Gal Farm, located some 17 miles northeast of Ramallah.
The body of Jerusalemite Binyamin Achimeir was discovered on April 14 after he went missing 24 hours earlier. Local media reported that there was a long struggle between Achimeir and Duabsha, and that some of the teenager’s clothing items were found scattered near his remains.
According to figures collected by regional authorities, Arab aggression targeting Jewish farmers has been on the rise across Judea and Samaria.
In total, Palestinian terrorists targeted Israeli Jews in Judea and Samaria at least 6,343 times in 2024, according to data published by Rescuers Without Borders (Hatzalah Judea and Samaria).
Twenty-seven Israelis were murdered in Judea and Samaria in 2024, and more than 300 others were wounded, the group said in its annual report.
