Bullet slams into northern West Bank settlement home in suspected attack

Palestinian gunmen fired a hail of bullets Monday evening at a settlement in the northern West Bank, causing damage to a home, the military and local officials said.

Images from the scene showed large hole punched through the kitchen window of a home in the settlement of Shaked, some 10 kilometers (six miles) west of the Palestinian city of Jenin near Israel’s security barrier.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack by armed Palestinian groups, although previous shootings against the settlement have been claimed by a local wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group.

The Samaria Regional Council said one home was damaged by the shooting. The Rescuers Without Borders emergency service said there were no physical injuries, but one person was being treated for shock following the attack.

“We will not wait for the victims. This government should order the IDF to react with severity,” the council’s leader, Yossi Dagan, said in a statement.

The Israel Defense Forces said troops were dispatched to the area to search for the suspects, who fled the scene. The bullets were fired from outside the settlement.

Israeli troops operate in the West Bank, early January 16, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces)

In a separate incident Monday night, Israeli security forces at the nearby Reihan checkpoint reported coming under gunfire from a distance, Rescuers Without Borders said. No injuries were reported.

The IDF did not immediately comment on the second reported attack.

In recent months, Palestinian gunmen have repeatedly targeted military posts, troops operating along the West Bank security barrier, Israeli settlements, and civilians on the roads.

Tensions have soared in the West Bank recently, as the IDF has pressed on with an anti-terror offensive to deal with a series of Palestinian attacks that killed 31 people in 2022.

Earlier Monday, Palestinian authorities said a 14-year-old boy was killed in Bethlehem during clashes with IDF troops carrying out arrest raids, marking the 14th Palestinian killed since the start of the year.

The IDF’s operation has netted more than 2,500 arrests in near-nightly raids, but left 171 Palestinians dead in 2022, many of them while carrying out attacks or during clashes with security forces, though some were uninvolved civilians.