Three Israeli Police Officers Killed in Terror Shooting near Hebron

September 2, 2024

by: JNS

Monday, 2 September 2024 | Three Israeli police officers were killed in a drive-by shooting on Sunday morning near the Tarqumiya checkpoint, some 7.5 miles [12 km.] northwest of Hebron in Judea.

Magen David Adom paramedics treated a male and a female officer at the scene before pronouncing them dead. Another male officer was seriously wounded and evacuated to Soroka Medical Center in Beersheva, where he was later pronounced dead.

They were later named as Chief Inspector Arik Ben Eliyahu, 37, of Kiryat Gat, who is survived by his wife and three children; Command Sgt. Maj. Hadas Branch, 53, of Sde Moshe, who is survived by her husband, three children and granddaughter; and 1st Sgt. Roni Shakuri, 61, of Sderot, who is survived by his wife, daughter and granddaughter.

Shakuri’s other daughter, 1st Sgt. Mor Shakuri, 29, was killed on October 7 while battling an attempt by Hamas terrorists to take control of the police station in Sderot, in southern Israel near the border with Gaza.

The Israel Defense Forces [IDF] on Sunday initiated a search for the terrorists, who opened fire from a car at the police vehicle with the three officers inside on Route 35 and then fled on foot. The road was closed to traffic and security forces were preparing to search the nearby Palestinian village of Idna.

Later on Sunday, IDF and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) fighters surrounded a house in Hebron where terrorists were believed to be holed up, the military said in a statement. At least one terrorist linked to Sunday morning’s attack was “neutralized” at the site, the IDF stated.

According to reports, the terrorist who carried out the shooting was a member of Palestinian Authority [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas‘s “Presidential Guard,” though it was unclear whether he still held the position.

The head of the Gush Etzion Council, Yaron Rosenthal, called on the IDF to “start the operation to clean up the nests of terrorism in the [PA’s] Hebron Governorate and the surrounding area.”

On Saturday, an IDF soldier was killed and three others wounded during clashes with Hamas terrorists in Jenin in northern Samaria.

The slain man was identified as Staff Sgt. Elkana Navon, 20, from Petach Tikvah.

Also on Saturday, the Hamas terrorist group hailed the previous day’s “double heroic operation” after car bombers wounded three Israelis in the Gush Etzion region of Judea.

Posted on September 2, 2024

Source: (Excerpt from an article originally published by the Jewish News Syndicate on September 1, 2024. Time-related language has been modified to reflect our republication today. See original article at this link.)

Photo Credit: Photo by Wisam Hashlamoun/Flash90/jns.org