Palestinian terror groups praise deadly West Bank attack

Palestinian terror groups were quick to praise a shooting attack that fatally wounded an Israeli man in the northern West Bank on Thursday night, although none claimed responsibility for it.

The attack took place outside the Homesh outpost near the Palestinian town of Burqa. One Israeli was fatally wounded by gunfire, and another two were lightly hurt by shards of flying glass, according to medics. All three were apparently students at the Jewish religious school on the nearby hilltop.

“Hamas blesses this heroic operation in Nablus against the occupation forces and the murderous settlers,” said Hamas spokesperson Hazim Qasim. “This operation proves yet again that our heroic people will continue their struggle until they expel the occupier.”

The deceased Israeli was identified by the Samaria Regional Council as Yehuda Dimentman, 25, a yeshiva student who was married and had a young toddler.

The three victims were shot while in their car as they left Homesh, a settlement that was meant to have been abandoned as part of a 2005 eviction, but is now the site of an illegally operated yeshiva.

“The car was hit by an ambush from the side of the road,” said Brig. Gen. Avi Bluth, commander of the IDF’s Judea and Samaria Division, named for the biblical term for the West Bank.

The Israeli military conducted wide search operations in pursuit of the perpetrators on Thursday night. So far, no Palestinian terror group has taken responsibility for the deadly attack.

“We bless the heroic operation carried out by heroic resistance fighters from among our people, which came as a natural response to the crimes of the occupying soldiers and settlers,” said a spokesperson for Islamic Jihad’s West Bank branch.

Israeli security forces inspect the scene of a shooting attack near Homesh, in the West Bank, on December 16, 2021. (Hillel Meir/Flash90)

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which avowedly seeks to commit armed attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians, also hailed the shooting.

“What happened near Nablus is a statement that our people will not submit to the occupation. The message of the cities of the West Bank is that we will address the occupation in the language of bullets,” senior PFLP official Hani al-Thawabta told official Hamas television.

The past few weeks have seen a rise in Palestinian terror attacks, with four taking place in Jerusalem alone, including a deadly shooting committed by a Hamas member in the capital’s Old City.

Judah Ari Gross contributed to this report.