Kiryat Arba resident Aharon Cohen, 70, was killed, and three others were wounded in a ramming and stabbing attack at the Gush Etzion junction on Tuesday.
One woman in her 40s was severely wounded, and two others, a 30-year-old and a 15-year-old, were moderately wounded in the attack.
Cohen, a widower, leaves behind six children and many grandchildren.
Two terrorists arrived in a vehicle at the junction, drove into the civilians standing nearby, then exited the vehicle and attempted to stab them.
They were killed by reservists who happened to be in the area. The terrorists were identified as Ibrahim Imran al-Atrash, 18, from Hebron, and Walid Muhammad Khalil Sabarneh, 18, from Beit Umar, according to the Palestinian Authority’s Health Ministry.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad took credit for the attack and congratulated the terrorists in a social media post. They also called on Palestinians to escalate their attacks against Israelis.
The three terror victims were evacuated by medical personnel to Shaare Zedek Medical Center and Hadassah-University Medical Center in Jerusalem’s Ein Kerem for treatment.
The military cordoned off Palestinian towns in the area of the attack and set up roadblocks.
A 'serious and complex incident'
“When we arrived at the scene, we identified that this was a serious and complex incident,” MDA paramedic Uriel Lavi said.
“We located several injured individuals suffering from penetrating wounds. We provided them with initial medical treatment on-site, and after stabilizing their condition, we evacuated them for further treatment at the hospital.”
Highway 60 was reopened to traffic approximately three hours after the attack took place.
“Security forces arrived very quickly at the scene,” Gush Etzion spokesperson Akiva Speigelman said. “The terrorists were neutralized quickly, thanks to the initiative of those at the station.”
Former prime minister Naftali Bennett called the attack “Oslo on steroids.”
“Any government that, after the most horrific massacre in the country’s history, awards the enemy a Palestinian state, bears responsibility for reigniting terrorism against Jews. We will fix it soon,” he promised.