A Palestinian gunman opened fire from a passing vehicle at a military post near the West Bank settlement of Ofra on Wednesday afternoon, the military said. The alleged attacker was shot dead following a brief chase.
It was the second shooting attack within hours, and came amid an uptick in attacks in the West Bank.
The Israel Defense Forces said troops returned fire before beginning a pursuit of the gunman, who fled the scene. He was shot by troops in the nearby Palestinian town of Dayr Dibwan, according to a military source.
Images from the scene showed the alleged gunman lying on the ground next to a hunting rifle, the gun apparently used in the attack.
The man was named by Palestinian media as Mojahed al-Najjar, 32, a former Palestinian prisoner in Israel. The Palestinian Authority Health Ministry said it was notified of al-Najjar’s death.
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No soldiers were hurt in the shooting attack, which came hours after Palestinians shot at a military post close to the nearby village of Nabi Saleh in the early hours of Wednesday.
An alleged Palestinian gunman who was shot by Israeli troops in the West Bank town of Dayr Dibwan shortly after an attack on an IDF post nearby, December 7, 2022. (Courtesy)
On Monday night, the same military post near Ofra was targeted by Palestinian gunmen, without causing any injuries. The military was probing if the same gunman who was shot after Wednesday’s attack near Ofra was responsible for Monday’s attack as well.
Earlier Wednesday, Palestinian gunmen clashed with Israeli troops in the northern West Bank city of Nablus during an attempt by the army to arrest a wanted man.
Israeli troops operate in the West Bank, early December 7, 2022. (Israel Defense Forces)
A local wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Nablus-based Lion’s Den terror groups said their members had opened fire at the Israeli troops in the area, claiming to have prevented them from conducting an arrest.
The IDF said no suspects were detained in Nablus, but eight Palestinians were arrested elsewhere across the West Bank, with some violent incidents.
In recent months, Palestinian gunmen have repeatedly targeted military posts, troops operating along the West Bank security barrier, Israeli settlements and civilians on the roads.
The IDF has recorded around 300 shooting attacks and attempts against Israeli civilians and soldiers in the West Bank this year, compared to just 91 last year.
Tensions have been high in the West Bank over the past year, with the IDF launching a major anti-terror offensive mostly focused on the northern West Bank to deal with a series of Palestinian attacks that have left 31 people in Israel and the West Bank dead since the start of the year.
The operation has netted more than 2,500 arrests in near-nightly raids, but has also left more than 150 Palestinians dead, many of them — but not all — while carrying out attacks or during clashes with security forces.
