Israel: Motorist killed in West Bank held U.S. citizenship
— Israeli authorities said Tuesday that a motorist shot to death by a suspected Palestinian gunman in the occupied West Bank held both American and Israeli citizenship. It was the latest in a bloody string of violent attacks roiling the region.
The Israeli government identified the slain man as Elan Ganeles, 27, of West Hartford, Conn.
The government identified the slain man as Elan Ganeles, 27, of West Hartford, Conn. A friend told local media he had been visiting Israel for a wedding and driving on a highway near the Dead Sea when he was shot. The attackers remained at large Tuesday.
Ganeles was the sole fatality of what the army said was a multisite shooting spree a day earlier. The army said the attackers opened fire at an Israeli car near the Palestinian city of Jericho, hitting Ganeles. The assailants, traveling in one vehicle, then drove further and fired again, the army said. The attackers set their own vehicle afire and fled, setting off a manhunt.
The killing occurred a day after two Israelis were killed by a Palestinian gunman in the northern West Bank, triggering a rampage in which Israeli settlers torched dozens of cars and homes in the Palestinian town of Hawara and one Palestinian was killed.
The U.N. Security Council held an emergency closed-door meeting Tuesday called by the United Arab Emirates on the surge in violence. UAE Ambassador Lana Nuseibeh told reporters afterward that “council members all spoke with one voice in the room, urging de-escalation, urging no further unilateral actions to be taken, urging the protection of civilians.”
Malta’s U.N. Ambassador Vanessa Frazier, the current council president, said council members agreed they should try “to see if there are ways that we can stop any incitement to further violence and to promote dialogue.”
Palestinian U.N. ambassador Riyad Mansour urged the council to take steps to protect Palestinian civilians, “especially after the criminal and terrorist act by settlers in Hawara.” He said the situation has gotten very bad because of “the most extreme government in the history of Israel.”
In the latest incident, Hadassah Medical Center, where Ganeles was taken, confirmed his death. He is to be buried today in the Israeli central city of Raanana.