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 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, travelling 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.

Ganeles died later at Hadassah Medical Center, the hospital said. He is to be buried Wednesday in the Israeli central city of Raanana. Israeli President Isaac Herzog extended condolences to Ganeles’ family. Ganeles grew up in West Hartford, the son of doctors Andrew and Carolyn Ganeles. He served in the Israel Defense Forces from 2016 to 2018, then returned to the U.S. to attend Columbia University, graduating last year with a bachelor’s degree in sustainable development and neuroscience, according to his LinkedIn page.

Friends and Jewish organizations took to social media to express their grief and remember Ganeles.

Ganeles’ killing came 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 a Palestinian town and one Palestinian was killed. It was the worst such violence in decades.