Terrorists throw rocks, wound Israeli bus driver near Jerusalem

An Israeli bus driver sustained light wounds on Monday night when suspected Palestinian terrorists threw rocks at cars traveling on a main highway in Judea and Samaria near Jerusalem, rescue forces said.

“During the last hour, stones were thrown at a bus south of Givat Asaf. There is damage, and light wounds were caused by shrapnel,” Rescuers Without Borders (Hatzalah Judea and Samaria) stated.

The town of Givat Asaf is located in the Binyamin region of Samaria, some nine miles or a 15-minute drive on the Route 60 throughway from Jerusalem’s northernmost entrance.

A man in his 30s was reportedly wounded to his face and limbs due to the shattering windshield. He is said to have received treatment from a United Hatzalah paramedic.

‘Deteriorating in alarming way’

Also on Monday, Israeli security forces neutralized an improvised roadside bomb near the town of Havat Gilad in northern Samaria.

“Earlier today, terrorists rolled a tire with a gas cylinder inside towards an axis near the village of Madama in the Samaria Brigade,” an Israel Defense Forces spokesperson stated.

There were no casualties in the attempted terrorist attack, the military said. It added that troops were “working to track down the terrorists.”

The Fighting for Life NGO, which organizes protests against terrorism, told Channel 14 that “it started with lone rock-throwing attacks, became a terrorist routine of Molotov cocktails and stones every day, and has now come to an explosive device in the middle of a main road in Samaria.”

“In recent weeks, the security situation in the Samaria sector has been deteriorating in a dangerous and alarming way,” the group added.

Judea and Samaria saw more than 500 monthly Palestinian terror attacks on average in the first half of 2024, per Rescuers Without Borders data. In the first six months of this year, first responders recorded 3,272 acts of terrorism, including 1,868 cases of rock-throwing.

On Sunday, a Palestinian terrorist murdered an Israeli civilian and stole his weapon during an attack in the Bar-On Industrial Park, located near Kedumim in northern Samaria. The terror suspect has yet to be caught.