The Hamas terrorist group on Saturday hailed the previous day’s “double heroic operation” after car bombers wounded three Israelis in the Gush Etzion region of Judea.
While stopping short of claiming responsibility for the attacks, Hamas described them as “a clear message that the resistance will be prolonged and sustained so long as the brutal occupation’s aggression and targeting of our people and land continue.”
In the first attack, a car bomb was detonated at a gas station near the Gush Etzion Junction, prompting the Israel Defense Forces to dispatch troops to the scene. The terrorist opened fire on the soldiers, who then killed him.
One soldier was moderately wounded and an officer was lightly hurt in the exchange, the military said.
תיעוד | המחבל שביצע את הפיגוע בצומת הגוש מנסה לברוח ולתקוף לוחם - ונורה@ItayBlumental pic.twitter.com/iRfWljUOyN
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Twenty minutes later, a Palestinian terrorist rammed his car through the entrance to the nearby community of Karmei Tzur.
A member of the local security team drove after the terrorist and crashed into his car, before getting out and shooting him dead. Shortly thereafter, the terrorist’s car exploded.
The guard was lightly injured in the crash.
The IDF believes that the Palestinian terrorists, both from Hebron, coordinated their attacks.
On Wednesday, Hamas leader abroad Khaled Mashaal called for a return to suicide terrorist attacks against Israelis in Judea and Samaria.
During a video address to a conference in Istanbul, Mashaal said, “Resistance operations in the West Bank are escalating despite the harsh conditions,” CNN Arabic reported.
“We want to return to martyrdom operations. This is a situation that can only be addressed by open conflict. They are fighting us with open conflict, and we are confronting them with open conflict,” he continued.
On Aug. 19, the “military” wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad both claimed responsibility for a failed suicide bombing in south Tel Aviv.
In a statement, Hamas vowed to continue to carry out suicide attacks “as long as Israel continues its massacre and policy of assassinations in Gaza.”
The bomber, who was killed in the blast, was a Palestinian from the area of Nablus (Shechem) in central Samaria. An accomplice is believed to have transported him to Tel Aviv.
