Pregnant mother wounded in Arab drive-by shooting recovering

The condition of the pregnant woman critically wounded in Monday’s terror attack is improving.

By World Israel News Staff

Shira Ish-Ran, the 21-year-old pregnant woman seriously wounded in a drive-by shooting on Sunday evening, is recovering, doctors at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem said Tuesday morning.

Ish-Ran, together with six others, including her husband, were wounded while waiting at a hitchhiking stop near the town of Ofra in Samaria.

The drive-by was caught on camera as gunfire opened up from a passing white sedan, sending those waiting running for cover. Some hid behind a stone memorial for a man killed by terrorists at the same spot a year ago.

Ish-Ran and the other wounded were rushed to Shaare Zedek. She was one of the worst injured and initially listed in critical condition.

“She lost a lot of blood, received blood transfusions, was stabilized and was taken to the operating room for urgent emergency surgery. She underwent a caesarean section and then surgery to treat her injuries,” said Dr. Alon Schwartz, a senior surgeon at Shaare Tzedek.

Ish-Ran was seven-and-a-half months pregnant. The baby boy was taken to the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit. He is still in critical condition.

Shira and her husband Amichai were visiting his parents in Ofra and were on their way home to their town of Elon Moreh.

On Monday, Shira’s father Chaim Silverstein told the media, “She opened her eyes and asked for Mom, so we rushed in. She got teary-eyed when she saw us. She got so emotional that we had to leave, because her pulse went up too much.”

The husband’s father, Raphael Ish-Ran, said that when the shooting started, “Amichai started running along with everyone else, but then he looked around and saw his wife wasn’t with him. He ran to her and saw her on the floor. He stopped her bleeding with his hands until help arrived.”

Raphael Ish-Ran believes the terrorists targeted his daugther-in-law, adding, “Apparently, the terrorists studied the habits of settlers and they approached, as we’ve seen in videos, slowed down and then fired. They saw a pregnant woman and thought, ‘Great, that’s what we should hit’ and fired.”