Tel Aviv [Israel], May 15 (ANI/TPS): A pregnant Israeli woman in her 30s is in critical condition following a shooting attack Wednesday night near the community of Peduel, close to Brukhin, in Samaria.
Her husband, who was also in the vehicle, sustained light injuries and is currently being treated in the trauma unit at Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva.
A security source told The Press Service of Israel that the shooting was not a drive-by, as some initial reports suggested. Instead, the gunmen had set up an ambush and fired from a concealed position at three Israeli vehicles. Two were unharmed; one was struck.
Security forces, led by the commander of the Ephraim Brigade, launched an extensive manhunt in the area. Intelligence and ground forces are pursuing the suspected terrorist, believed to have escaped in a vehicle. The IDF has established roadblocks and imposed a closure on the nearby Palestinian village of Bruqin. Aerial surveillance units and special forces have been deployed to the area. Central Command's General and the head of IDF operations in Judea and Samaria are holding ongoing situational assessments at the scene.
Beilinson Hospital confirmed the woman remains in critical condition after being evacuated by helicopter. Doctors are fighting to save both her life and that of her unborn baby.
Yossi Dagan, head of the Samaria Regional Council, currently in Washington, said he is coordinating closely with the IDF and following the situation from abroad.
Israel Gantz, head of the Binyamin Regional Council and Chairman of the Judea and Samaria Council, stated:
"This attack is a painful reminder of the urgent need to change the security approach on the ground. As long as we treat terror as isolated events rather than uprooting its sources, Israeli lives will remain at risk."
In the political arena, both coalition and opposition figures responded in a similar tone, calling for intensified military action and a fundamental shift in Israel's security strategy in Judea and Samaria.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was "deeply shocked by the horrific attack on a pregnant woman and her husband," and pledged that security forces would "settle accounts with the terrorists and those who aided them."
MK Pnina Tamano-Shata, chair of the opposition "National Unity" faction, condemned the attack:
"Bloodthirsty terrorists shoot pregnant Israeli women without mercy... I pray for the recovery of the wounded woman and her child. Am Yisrael must defend itself and eliminate those who seek to kill us."
MK Zvi Sukkot from the coalition Otzma Yehudit party called for a decisive military response:
"There's no difference between the terrorists in Judea and Samaria and those in Gaza. The response must be the samestrike hard and uproot them." (ANI/TPS)
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