Four Israelis were wounded on Thursday afternoon when Palestinian terrorists targeted their vehicle with an explosive near the Jewish community of Hermesh in northwestern Samaria.
The Israel Defense Forces confirmed that “two IDF soldiers on leave were moderately and lightly wounded as a result of an IED charge near Hermesh in the Menashe Division; two civilians were lightly injured.”
The Hatzalah Judea and Samaria rescue organization announced that “terrorists detonated an explosive device on a civilian vehicle east of Hermesh in northern Samaria.”
The lightly wounded victims continued to drive towards an IDF post in the area and were evacuated from there to Hillel Yaffe Medical Center in Hadera by military ambulance, the rescue group said.
Israel’s Army Radio cited medical authorities as saying that the civilian victims included an 18-month-old baby.
פיצוץ המטען בצפון שומרון: המטען ככל הנראה הופעל מרחוק והתפוצץ לאחר שהישראלים הגיעו לחווה באזור חרמש - כשאחד הנוסעים יצא מהרכב כדי לפתוח את השער. שאר נוסעי הרכב לא נפגעו@hod_barel pic.twitter.com/9bBtnpxzxX
— גלצ (@GLZRadio) July 18, 2024
On Tuesday, three Israelis were lightly wounded in a shooting near Shavei Shomron and Nablus, some six miles south-southeast of Hermesh. The Hamas terrorist group took responsibility for the attack.
“This is the second attack in two days in the Menashe sector,” Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan said. “We demand that the Israeli government and the [IDF] senior commanders treat them as deadly attacks and act accordingly.”
Judea and Samaria saw a dramatic rise in Palestinian terrorist attacks in 2023 compared to the previous year, with shootings reaching their highest level since the Second Intifada of 2000-05, according to IDF data.
On May 30, 2023, Israeli civilian Meir Tamari was shot and killed by Palestinian terrorists outside Hermesh, in an attack that was later claimed by the Fatah-linked Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.
