Three Israelis lightly injured in shooting attack near West Bank town of Bayt Lid

Victims hurt by flying glass after car comes under fire; earlier, 3 Israelis hurt by IDF fire in mishap at a checkpoint near Ramallah

Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent

Vehicle damaged in a shooting attack near the West Bank town of Bayt Lid, July 16, 2024 (Magen David Adom)
Vehicle damaged in a shooting attack near the West Bank town of Bayt Lid, July 16, 2024 (Magen David Adom)

Three Israelis were lightly wounded in a suspected shooting attack near the West Bank town of Bayt Lid, authorities said Tuesday morning.

The victims were hurt by glass shards after their vehicle came under fire, a military official said.

The IDF launched a manhunt for the assailants.

Bayt Lid is located near the settlement of Shavei Shomron in the northern West Bank.

The Magen Dovid Adom ambulance service reported three people, aged 32, 16, and 15, were lightly injured by flying glass, treated at the scene and then taken to Meir Medical Center in Kfar Saba.

MDA said the victims said they heard eight or nine shots but didn’t see the shooter.

The incident came after three Israelis were injured overnight by gunfire from IDF soldiers at a checkpoint close to the West Bank city of Ramallah.

One of the three, 18, suffered a moderate injury to the shoulder, and two others, aged 24 and 17, were lightly injured by fragments. All three were taken for medical treatment.

After an initial probe, the IDF said troops were checking people at the checkpoint when a car with Israeli license plates arrived at the location.

Three men wearing hoodies got out of the car and soldiers went through a procedure for apprehending suspicious individuals, including trying to get the attention of the three who did not respond. The force then fired into the air and the trio tried to bolt in the car. At that point, one of the soldiers fired at the vehicle, injuring the three.

The Bayt Lid shooting came after four IDF soldiers were wounded on Sunday, two of them seriously, in a car-ramming attack at a junction in central Israel.

According to police, the terrorist, identified as a Palestinian man from East Jerusalem, rammed his car into people waiting at a bus station at the Nir Tzvi junction. The intersection, outside the town of the same name, is adjacent to the IDF’s Tzrifin Base.

The four victims were taken to the nearby Asaf Harofeh Hospital, which said it treated a soldier and an officer in serious condition, another soldier who was moderately hurt, and a cadet who was lightly hurt.

Police described the incident as a terror attack.

The suspected terrorist was shot dead at the scene by Border Police officers who were stationed in the area.

Tensions in Israel and the West Bank have soared since October 7, when terrorists burst through the Gaza border into Israel in a Hamas-led attack, killing some 1,200 people and seizing 251 hostages.

Since then, 22 Israelis, including security personnel, have been killed in Palestinian terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank. Another five members of the security forces were killed in clashes with terror operatives in the West Bank.

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