Palestinian Gunmen Kill 3 Israeli Police Officers in West Bank
Three Israeli police officers were shot and killed on Sunday morning in the southern West Bank near Tarqumiyah, according to reports from the military, police, and medics. The officers were identified as Ch. Insp. Arik Ben Eliyahu, Command Sgt. Maj. Hadas Branch, and 1st Sgt. Roni Shakuri. The attack occurred when Palestinian gunmen opened fire on a police car traveling along Route 35 near the Idhna-Tarqumiyah junction, close to a checkpoint between the West Bank and Israel. The assailants reportedly fired from a passing vehicle before fleeing on foot.
Israeli security forces immediately launched a manhunt for the attackers. Israel Police Commissioner Danny Levy confirmed that the victims were part of the police’s West Bank district.
This holiday season, give to:
Truth and understanding
The Media Line's intrepid correspondents are in Israel, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and Pakistan providing first-person reporting.
They all said they cover it.
We see it.
We report with just one agenda: the truth.
Ben Eliyahu, 37, from Kiryat Gat, leaves behind a wife and three children. Branch, 53, from Sde Moshe, is survived by her husband, three children, and a granddaughter. Shakuri, 61, from Sderot, was the father of a daughter who was killed on October 7 while defending the Sderot police station from Hamas terrorists.
The shooting came a day after a separate attack in the southern West Bank’s Gush Etzion area, where Palestinian fighters detonated two car bombs, injuring three Israeli soldiers. The attackers, later identified as residents of Hebron, were killed at the scene.
This incident is part of a broader escalation of violence in the West Bank following the October 7 Hamas-led assault on southern Israel. Since then, Israeli forces have arrested thousands of Palestinians, primarily Hamas affiliates, and more than 670 Palestinians have been killed in the ongoing clashes.
