Two hurt, one seriously, in West Bank highway terror shooting

Two Israelis were wounded, one of them a female soldier who was seriously hurt, in a terror shooting attack on a West Bank highway Sunday morning, the military and medics said.

In the attack on Route 55, between the Palestinian towns of Azzun and Nabi Ilyas, a bus and another car came under fire by a Palestinian gunman.

A 19-year-old woman on the bus was seriously wounded, medical officials said. A man in his 50s was also hurt by gunfire while driving in the same area.

The young woman was taken by the Magen David Adom ambulance service to Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva, where she was listed in a life-threatening condition, the medical center said.

She was later identified as an Israel Defense Forces soldier.

The man, said by MDA to be in good-to-moderate condition, was taken to Meir Hospital in Kfar Saba.

The IDF said troops had been dispatched to the scene of the shooting to search for the terrorist.

Police said the highway has been closed in both directions in the area of the attack.

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 at least 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and seizing 253 hostages.

Since October 7, the IDF has said, troops arrested some 3,600 wanted Palestinians across the West Bank, including more than 1,600 affiliated with Hamas.