Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel is "fighting a war on all fronts" following the terror attack where Chief Sgt. First Class (res.) Haim Kalomiti was killed, and five others, including the head of Tzur Natan’s emergency response squad, were wounded.
"The IDF, Shin Bet, and the Israel Police have managed to thwart hundreds of attacks in the West Bank in the past year, but not all of them, unfortunately," Netanyahu said and praised the emergency forces who acted immediately against the terrorists. "I praise the Israel Police officers who eliminated the terrorist and also captured his accomplice," he added.
Israel will enforce the death penalty if the terrorists who committed the deadly Sharon terror attack are caught alive, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir also said in a Sunday post to X/Twitter.
"If the terrorist is caught alive, he will be executed; this is the law, and we will demand its enforcement," Ben-Gvir wrote. "This is precisely why Otzma Yehudit enacted the 'Death Penalty for Terrorists' Law. Jewish blood is not forfeit. Whoever murders a Jew will see the hangman's noose."
When it was announced that a soldier had been the one killed in the attack, Ben-Gvir expressed deep condolences, calling Kalomiti "a hero of Israel."
"A member of a rapid-response team who didn't wait for someone else to defend, but charged toward the terrorists, closed in on them, and fought with valor to save lives," he wrote. "In his courageous action, he prevented a far greater disaster."
He also promised to continue to provide other rapid-response teams with "all the necessary tools to protect Israel's citizens."
The attack began at Kochav Yair and continued on past Tsur Yitshak, Tsur Natan, and Selait.
Yossi Dagan, head of the Samaria Regional Council, praised the quick actions of Selait's Special Operations Command, which opened fire on the terrorist as he approached and prevented a much greater disaster.
"This incident proves once again the critical importance of emergency standby squads, the Special Operations Commands, and the security elements in the settlements," Dagan explained. "Terrorism does not distinguish between Jews and Arabs and does not distinguish between those who live in [the West Bank] and those who live inside the Green Line."
'We will not allow our enemies to undermine our security'
President Isaac Herzog said in a statement following the attack that “this is a painful and difficult day in Israel."
“I am shocked by the horrific terror attack in the Sharon region, in which an Israeli citizen was murdered, and others were injured," Herzog wrote on Twitter/X. "My heart goes out to the family of the victim, and I am praying for the full and speedy recovery of all those injured in the attack.
“I commend our security and emergency services who operated with courage and resolve at the scene of the attack and continue to protect the people of Israel.
"We will not allow our enemies to undermine our security, our freedom, and our right to live in safety.”
Smotrich: Israel must wake up and face reality
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich warned that the country must face the reality of the "dangerous and extremist terror network that is growing under our noses" and wants to "destroy the State of Israel."
"This morning's heinous attack in the heart of Sharon is a bloody wake-up call to the profound change that needs to happen among Israeli Arabs," he said in a Sunday statement. "Hundreds of thousands of illegal weapons, including anti-tank missiles, machine guns, and explosive devices, alongside rampant crime and nationalist extremism, are an existential threat."
"The equation is simple," Smotrich added. "Those who accept the state's sovereignty will live here in peace. Those who choose the path of terror bear responsibility for their own fate."
The Democrats' Yair Golan expressed his condolences to the families of the person who was killed and those wounded in the attack in a post to X.
"I strengthen the hand of the security forces operating in the field," Golan wrote in his post. "In the north, in the south, and everywhere in Israel, Israel's citizens deserve quiet and security."