A 35-year-old man was murdered, and five people were seriously and moderately injured in a shooting attack at several locations in the Kochav Yair area of central Israel on Sunday morning.

The terrorist began a shooting spree from a stolen Israeli car at a gas station in Kochav Yair, shooting two men, seriously and moderately wounding them. One man, in his 50s, was seriously injured, and another man, in his 30s, was moderately injured.

He then continued to the nearby yishuv of Tzur Yitzchak, shooting a man in his 30s at the entrance, moderately wounding him.

The terrorist then shot two people on a nearby road near the yishuv of Tzur Natan, wounding one critically and another seriously. The critically injured man, 31, died of his wounds at the scene minutes later. The second man, about 40, was evacuated to the hospital in serious and unstable condition.

The terrorist also fired at the front gate of Moshav Sela’it, but Baruch Hashem, no one was injured in that incident. The community security coordinator opened fire at the terrorist’s car, but they continued driving.

At the same time, terrorist infiltration alerts were sounded in Tzur Yitzchak, and residents were instructed to remain in their homes. Large forces of police, IDF, and Border Police were deployed to the area, roads were blocked, and special forces launched extensive searches. Later, a terrorist infiltration alert also sounded in Tzur Natan.

Following the attack, the terrorist fled the scene. A manhunt was launched, and about half an hour later, security forces found him near the nearby city of Tayibe and neutralized him. He was later identified as Omar Yassin, an Israeli-Arab from Tayibe.

He carried out the attack with a Carlo-type submachine gun.

IDF forces surrounded several Palestinian villages in the area and closed off a nearby road crossing.

MDA teams provided medical treatment to all of the victims, and they were evacuated to Rabin Medical Center (Beilinson Hospital) in Petach Tikva and Meir Medical Center in Kfar Saba.

MDA paramedic Lior Zilberberg said, “We received reports of several casualties at different scenes, including reports of people wounded by gunfire. At the scene at a gas station near Kokhav Yair, we began providing medical treatment to a man around 50 years old who was in serious condition and to a man around 30 years old in moderate condition. At another scene, in Tzur Yitzchak, we provided medical treatment to a man around 30 years old who was wounded in his arm. At an additional scene, on Route 5533, we treated another man in critical condition, as well as another casualty who was evacuated in serious condition.”

 

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)