Terrorists open fire on taxi and bus in Samaria

One man wounded after terrorists open fire at Israeli bus and taxi dispatched to drive school children near Elon Moreh in Samaria.

By World Israel News Staff

One man was wounded in a terrorist shooting attack in Samaria Sunday morning.

The attack occurred on a road between the Israeli town of Elon Moreh and the Palestinian Authority-administered town of Bayt Furik.

During the attack, shots were fired at an Israeli bus and a taxi, both of which were damaged in the shooting.

The bus came under fire first, prompting the driver to report that attack to authorities.

Shortly afterwards, an Israeli taxi also came under fire. The taxi was en route to pick up special needs children and drive them to school.

One bullet penetrated the taxi’s rear window, sending pieces of glass flying which wounded the driver in the back.

The driver, a 40-year-old resident of Samaria, continued driving after being wounded, evacuating himself to a nearby army base, where he was treated by IDF medics. He is listed in light condition.

Israeli security forces are conducting searches of the area.

Samaria Regional Council chairman Yossi Dagan blamed the government’s policies for the latest shooting attack, accusing Israel’s leaders of refusing to carry out a comprehensive counter-terror operation in Samaria, modeled after Operation Defensive Shield in the spring of 2002.

“Yet another serious attack that ended almost miraculously,” Dagan said. “This government is abandoning residents here to a terror wave which the Palestinian Authority is cooking up. This government is refusing to accept reality.”

“I call on the government to get ahold of itself and announce a broad campaign to disrupt the terrorist infrastructure in Judea and Samaria.”

Sunday’s terror attack is the latest shooting in Samaria, with nearly 10 such attacks reported in Samaria in one week in late September.

A pair of shooting attacks were reported in a single evening that week.

The IDF has recently registered an uptick in the number of shooting attacks in Judea and Samaria since the beginning of the year. About 70 such attacks have occurred since the beginning of 2022, compared to about 50 shooting attacks in all of 2021, 48 in 2020, and 61 in 2019.