Israeli security and rescue personnel at the scene of a shooting attack on a car and bus where at least three Israelis were killed near Kedumim in the West Bank, Israel’s national ambulance service Magen David Adom (MDA) said, Jan. 6, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Rami Amichay

Three Israelis were killed and several injured on Monday in a shooting attack on a car and bus near the settlement of Kedumim in the West Bank, Israel‘s national ambulance service Magen David Adom (MDA) said.

The attack, on a major road used by both Israelis and Palestinians, comes amid a diplomatic push for a deal to end the 15-month-old war in Gaza and return Israeli hostages home and may pose another obstacle to sealing such a deal before US President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20.

Footage posted on Israeli news sites showed at least two men emerge from a car and apparently open fire on nearby vehicles near the Palestinian village of al-Funduq, just down the road from Kedumim.

Israel‘s finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, who lives in the settlement where the attack took place, called for an urgent cabinet meeting “to discuss a shift in strategy and to genuinely eradicate terrorism.”

“Anyone who relies on the Palestinian Authority [which exercises limited self-governance in the West Bank] to secure the safety of Israeli citizens is waking up to a morning where terrorists are again slaughtering Jewish residents. Funduk, Nablus, and Jenin must look like Jabalia, so that Kfar Saba does not, God forbid, become Gaza,” he wrote. Jabalia is a town in the north of the Gaza Strip that has come under Israeli bombardment due to the presence of Hamas there.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met senior military and security officials to discuss the situation and approved measures to capture Monday’s attackers as well as “a series of additional offensive and defensive actions” in the West Bank.

“No one will be spared,” he posted on X.

There was no immediate comment from the Palestinian authorities in the West Bank.

Hamas, the terrorist group which has run the Gaza Strip and has a presence in the West Bank, praised the attack as a “heroic response against the occupation’s continued crimes [including] the war of genocide in Gaza.” But it did not claim responsibility.

Since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas terrorists on southern Israel that triggered the war in Gaza, the violence in the West Bank has spiraled, with hundreds of Palestinians and dozens of Israelis killed.

‘ACT FORCEFULLY’

Israel‘s Defense Minister Israel Katz said he had instructed the military to “act forcefully” in response to Monday’s attack.

Israeli Army Radio said the military had imposed a cordon around all villages in the area to search for the suspects, who it believes fled to a nearby Palestinian village.

MDA said two women in their 60s and a man around 40 years old were pronounced dead at the scene, while eight passengers were wounded including a 63-year-old male bus driver who is in serious condition.

Hamas spokesman Abu Ubaida said in a post on Telegram that “Israel will never enjoy security” unless the Palestinian people also have security.

Palestinian security forces moved into Jenin, in the northern West Bank, last month in a move they say is aimed at suppressing armed groups of “outlaws” who have built up a power base in the city and its adjacent refugee camp.