Arab attacker opens fire in central Israel, killing 1 and wounding 5

The attack began with a shooting Sunday morning at a gas station near the town of Kokhav Yair, located on the Israeli side of the boundary with the occupied West Bank. Several other shooting reports were reported in two nearby Israeli towns and close to the Israeli settlement of Salit, inside the West Bank.

Police initially feared there had been a series of coordinated attacks. But they eventually determined that a gunman and an accomplice who may have served as his driver were involved.

The shooter was killed by police, and his suspected accomplice was arrested later Sunday after he tried to stab police with a glass bottle.

Police said a 35-year-old Israeli man was killed by the gunman in Kokhav Yair, while the Magen David Adom rescue service said five other people were wounded, two severely.

Fears of a widespread attack prompted authorities to order residents to stay at home, and children in the area were kept in lockdown at school for at least three hours.

“Since Oct. 7, the scenario we were expecting was terrorist crossing into our towns from over the boundary, I don’t think that anyone imagined that we would discover the attackers were Israeli citizens,” Oshrit Gani Gonen, the regional council head, told Israeli media.

The security minister posts video reportedly with dead gunman

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the security forces who killed the attacker, while Israel’s hard-line public security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, who oversees the police force, released a video of himself standing next to what appeared to be a blurred out image of the dead gunman.

“This is the end of every terrorist, this is how it should look,” said Ben-Gvir, who recently led an effort to pass a new law that seeks to impose the death penalty on Palestinian attackers. That law now faces legal challenges.

Ben-Gvir has come under sharp condemnation from other Israeli leaders for making controversial videos, such as his treatment of flotilla activists who were detained after attempting to break the maritime blockade to Gaza.

The West Bank has experienced a surge in deadly violence since the war in Gaza began in October 2023. Israel has stepped up military operations across the territory, killing hundreds of people. It says the raids are aimed at militants, but scores of civilians have also been killed.

Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 as hostages. Israel’s ensuing offensive in Gaza has killed more than 72,000 Palestinians, including combatants and civilians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

Strike kills 4 in Gaza

Also on Sunday, at least four Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.

The strike hit a police point in the southern city of Khan Younis. The four dead were taken to a field hospital run by the Red Crescent, the charity said. At least 10 others were wounded, it said.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strike but has said in the past it will target militants that pose a threat to its troops.

Associated Press writer Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed to this report.

A previous version of this story was corrected to show that the location where the Israeli man was killed took place on the Israeli side of the boundary with the Israel-occupied West Bank, not inside the West Bank.