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Two Israelis lightly injured in West Bank firebomb attack
Troops launch search for suspects after Molotov cocktail thrown at car near Nablus; two injured treated by army medics, taken to hospital
A pair of Israelis were lightly injured on Thursday after a Molotov cocktail was thrown at their vehicle in the northern West Bank, according to the army.
The Israel Defense Forces said the two received medical treatment from military personnel following the attack near the Palestinian city of Nablus and were later hospitalized. It said the car was also damaged.
Soldiers were searching the area for suspects, the army said.
A spokesman for the Samaria Regional Council said the car was hit while traveling between the settlements of Itamar and Elon Moreh.
The incident came amid heightened tensions in the West Bank following a week of deadly violence.
On Sunday, a Palestinian terrorist shot dead a rabbi and an Israeli soldier in the northern West Bank.
The assailant, 18-year-old Omar Abu Laila, was killed in a shootout with Israeli forces Tuesday.
On Wednesday, Israeli troops killed two Palestinians who the army said threw explosive devices at soldiers securing the entry of Jewish worshipers to Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus.
Later that evening, Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian man outside Bethlehem who they believed was throwing rocks at passing vehicles. The army, however, acknowledged the incident could have been misinterpreted by troops stationed outside the West Bank city, and said it was conducting its own investigation into the death of 26-year-old Ahmed Manasra.
The army said Lt. Col David Shapira and Brig. Gen. Eran Niv conducted a preliminary investigation at the scene of the shooting, and it was “considering the possibility the rock-throwing was the result of an internal dispute between Palestinians.”
But the Bethlehem governor said Manasra was unarmed, and that Israeli soldiers fatally shot him while he was trying to aid another man injured by the gunfire.
Adam Rasgon contributed to this report.
