Seven Israelis wounded in shootout with terrorist in Samaria

Seven Israelis were wounded on Friday in a series of shootouts with a Palestinian terrorist during a manhunt in the Binyamin region of Samaria.

Emergency medical personnel treated two of the victims at the scene for serious injuries, and another was lightly hurt. All three were evacuated to Beilinson Hospital in Petach Tikvah.

The status of the four other victims was not immediately clear.

According to the Israel Defense Forces, the terrorist initially opened fire on an Israeli minibus close to the Jewish community of Dolev, located west of Ramallah.

There were no injuries in the attack.

During the ensuing manhunt, Israeli forces engaged the terrorist in gun battles for several hours, resulting in the casualties.

The IDF deployed additional troops to the area along with aerial support, including a combat helicopter.

The terrorist was eventually eliminated in a missile strike, the reports said.

Troops were continuing to search for possible suspects.

On Tuesday, two members of Israel’s security forces were wounded in a shooting attack near the Oz veGaon Nature Reserve, located between the Gush Etzion Junction and Migdal Oz in Judea.

The victims, both of them officers of the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), were lightly and seriously wounded, respectively.

One of the officers returned fire, killing the assailant. The terrorist was identified as Ziad al-Hamran, 30, from Jenin in northern Samaria.

On Saturday, Israeli forces killed a Hebron imam after he opened fire on the city’s Jewish neighborhood with an automatic rifle. No Israeli casualties were reported.

Mahmoud Nofal was captured on video as he fired towards the Jewish neighborhood from a cemetery in the Abu Sanina quarter.