Police call off search for possible Beit Horon attacker
Youth had reported seeing masked man in settlement previously hit by deadly terror; two injured in Bethlehem clashes
Judah Ari Gross is The Times of Israel's religions and Diaspora affairs correspondent.
Police have called off the search for a possible Palestinian attacker around the West Bank settlement of Beit Horon on Sunday evening, ending several hours of heightened alert after an Israeli teenager told a settlement security official he was attacked by a masked man.
Police said the threat was found to be unsubstantiated, though it was not clear if investigators concluded the youth made up the incident, or if a suspect was found and determined to be harmless.
The teen was not hurt.
Beit Horon lies along Route 443 connecting Jerusalem and Modiin.
The settlement was the scene of a deadly terror attack last month in which 23-year-old Shlomit Krigman was stabbed to death.
Also Sunday, two Palestinians were reportedly critically injured by Israeli gunfire during clashes with the military near Bethlehem, according to the Ma’an news agency.
The report said both were hit in the chest, but did not indicate what ammunition was used.
The violent protest took place south of the West Bank city.
One of the injured Palestinians is “a middle-aged dentist who was standing in his front yard near the city’s historical gate when he was shot,” the report said.
There was no immediate comment from the army.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
