(JNS) Four Israelis were killed and several others wounded in a shooting attack on Tuesday near the settlement of Eli in the West Bank.
One person seriously wounded was evacuated to Beilinson Hospital. Two others in moderate condition and one person lightly hurt were being treated on the scene. One masked Palestinian terrorist was "neutralized" in a firefight and security personnel were searching for at least one accomplice who escaped in a vehicle. The attack took place at the entrance to a restaurant at a petrol station on Route 60 located near Eli, which is north of Ramallah and south of Nablus.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Tuesday evening that he would address the nation at 6 p.m. local time.
Earlier today Gallant paid a hospital visit to IDF soldiers wounded in battle the previous day in Jenin, warning that “all options are on the table” to defeat Palestinian terrorism.“I instructed the defense establishment to take proactive and offensive actions wherever there is a danger to the lives of our citizens and our forces,” said Gallant.
“We will act in any necessary way and reach anywhere in order to preserve our freedom of action. All options are on the table,” he said.
Israeli helicopter gunships struck targets in the Jenin area on Monday morning after a deadly gun battle erupted during an IDF counterterror raid in the city. As Israeli forces withdrew from the city with two wanted suspects in custody, a roadside bomb detonated next to an armored vehicle, wounding eight soldiers.
The Israeli airstrike, the first in the West Bank since the Second Intifada in the early 2000s, allowed the military to extricate the wounded. There are increasing calls within the government to carry out a large-scale offensive in northern Samaria to root out Palestinian terrorist groups.