TEL AVIV – Two Israeli soldiers were killed and two critically injured in a drive-by shooting in the West Bank Thursday, close to the site of a similar terror attack that occurred earlier in the week.
Shots were fired by a Palestinian terrorist who got out of his car before fleeing the scene on foot, unconfirmed reports by the Israeli media said. Security forces are searching for the man.
Four people, all in their early 20s, sustained gunshot wounds in the attack, which took place at the Givat Asaf junction, two kilometers south of the West Bank settlement of Ofra, where seven people — including a seven-months pregnant woman whose baby died — were shot in a drive-by attack on Sunday.
One woman, who sustained gunshot wounds and was in critical condition, was evacuated to Shaare Zedek Medical Center’s trauma unit in Jerusalem for treatment.
The IDF later released the names of the two soldiers who were murdered in the attack (pictured above) — 19-year-old Yosef Cohen and 20-year-old Yuval Mor Yosef.
The attack comes amid an uptick of violence.
“In recent days, we definitely have the feeling that the situation (in the West Bank) is getting worse,” Shalom Galil, a paramedic who arrived at the scene of the shooting, told Israel’s Army Radio.
Earlier Thursday, two police officers were stabbed in Jerusalem’s Old City. One sustained injuries to the face and a woman police officer was stabbed in the thigh. The officers shot the attacker dead. He was identified as a Palestinian from the West Bank.