Two Israeli brothers, including a teenage boy, were shot dead in a terror attack in the northern West Bank, the Israeli military said.
Terrorists opened fire near the Arab village of Huwara at close range on the brothers’ car before fleeing the scene. The car was found riddled with bullet holes from a makeshift submachine gun popular with Palestinians.
Both of the victims, identified as Hillel Yaniv, 21 and Yagel Yaniv, 16, were evacuated to the hospital in critical condition, but later succumbed to their wounds.
The area has been the scene of several shooting attacks against Israeli drivers.
In the aftermath of the attack, videos emerged on social media of Palestinian children from the nearby city of Nablus, some appearing to be as young as five years old, celebrating the murders by handing out dates and other sweet treats.
Masked Palestinian militants of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) take part in a parade in Rafah town in the Southern Gaza Strip, on February 26, 2023, in support of the West Bank and against the Palestinian-Israeli Aqaba summit. (SAID KHATIB/AFP via Getty)
The attack comes just hours after Israeli officials made a commitment to Arab leaders at a summit in Jordan to reduce counterterror operations in the West Bank
‘We are giving it a chance,” an Israeli security official was quoted as saying by the Hebrew-language Yediot Aharonot reported. “We will only act in the face of ticking bombs or out of urgent operational necessity.”
Shlomo Neeman, head of the Yesha settlement umbrella group, said that “only heavy-handed action against the enemy and continued development of the settlement enterprise” building Jewish homes in the West Bank would deter Palestinian terrorists.
“We cannot hold a dialogue with an enemy that produces, arms, finances terrorism and continues to pay salaries to terrorists,” he said.