13-year-old girl breathing independently after being shot in West Bank’s Kiryat Arba
Family of Tamar Aharon thanks doctors and nation’s prayers, hopes for full recovery after she was hit in the head, apparently by errant fire from Palestinian city of Hebron
The condition of a 13-year-old Israeli girl improved on Friday, a day after she was shot in the head and critically wounded under unclear circumstances in the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba.
Tamar Aharon was now breathing independently, doctors said.
“Prayers from the nation of Israel together with doctors of Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital helped. The family thanks the nation of Israel and requests that they continue to pray for the full recovery of Tamar,” the Aharon family said in a statement.
Aharon had been rushed to the hospital by Magen David Adom paramedics while unconscious on Thursday after being hit by gunfire while walking down a street in Kiryat Arba.
The Ynet news site reported that errant gunfire was likely responsible, based on the entry wound that was located on the top of Aharon’s head. It was thought that the bullet had been fired into the air from Hebron.
Residents of Kiryat Arba have long complained about gunfire emanating from Hebron toward the settlement.
“We demand that security forces carry out scans and find the source of the shooting,” a settlement spokesperson said following the shooting.
The Israel Defense Forces said it was conducting searches in the area. “The circumstances of the incident are under investigation,” the military added.
The incident came after an Israeli man was shot dead and four others were hurt in Hebron on Saturday night. The terrorist was rammed by a security guard and shot dead by an off-duty soldier.
Tensions have soared in the West Bank recently as the IDF has pressed on with an anti-terror offensive mostly focused on the northern West Bank. It has netted more than 2,000 arrests in near-nightly raids.
The operation has also left over 125 Palestinians dead, many of them — but not all — while carrying out attacks or during clashes with security forces.
The IDF’s anti-terror offensive in the West Bank was launched following a series of Palestinian attacks that killed 19 people earlier this year.
Another Israeli was killed in a suspected attack last month, and four soldiers have been killed in the West Bank in attacks and during the arrest operations.
Emanuel Fabian contributed to this report.
