GUNMAN AMBUSHES ISRAELI FAMILY IN WEST BANK
HEBRON CLOSURE
RAMALLAH, PALESTINIAN TERRITORY • A Palestinian gunman ambushed an Israeli family travelling in a car in the West Bank on Friday, killing a man and wounding his wife and two teenage children in an assault that prompted the military to send hundreds of troops to the area, the largest operation in the territory in two years.
The army also imposed a closure on the Hebron district, a flashpoint area from which many of the recent attacks have stemmed.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also said Israel will reduce the amount of tax revenues it collects for the Palestinians each month, saying that some of the money was being given to families of attackers.
The tough Israeli action followed a deadly spike in Palestinian violence, with several attacks in two days.
Lt.-Col. Peter Lerner, an Israeli military spokesman, said the Hebron closure will limit movement except for humanitarian cases. More than 80 Palestinian attacks have originated or taken place in the Hebron area since the current wave of violence erupted in September.
Hebron is the largest Palestinian city in the West Bank and home to about 170,000 Palestinians. About 850 Israeli settlers also live in heavily guarded enclaves there.
Much of the animosity is over a holy site known to Jews as the Tomb of the Patriarchs and to Muslims as the Ibrahimi Mosque.
Lerner said an initial investigation shows the Palestinian car overtook the Israeli vehicle and opened fire before fleeing. He said it was not immediately known how many gunmen carried out the attack.
Hundreds of soldiers deployed will act as “a physical barrier on the ground,” Lerner said, describing it as the military’s “most substantial” steps taken in the West Bank since 2014, when thousands of troops entered the West Bank to find three Israeli teenagers who were abducted and killed by Palestinian gunmen. He did not say how long the closure would be in place.
Hebron Mayor Dawod Zatari said the Israeli troops closed the southern entrance to the city, which connects it to other cities and villages.
“This measure is meant to collectively punish our people,” he said.
Israeli media identified the dead man as Miki Mark, 48, head of a Jewish seminary in the settlement of Otniel. Reports said he was a father of 10 and a cousin of Yossi Cohen, the head of Israel’s spy agency, Mossad.
In another attack Friday, Israeli police said a Palestinian woman, later identified by Palestinian officials as Sarah Tarayreh, 27, was shot dead after she attempted to stab an officer during a security check outside the Hebron shrine.
Tarayreh was from the same town and the same clan as the Palestinian who stabbed a 13-year-old IsraeliAmerican girl to death as she slept in her bedroom Thursday.