A Palestinian man with Israeli citizenship went on a shooting rampage across several towns in central Israel on Sunday, killing a reservist and wounding five others before being shot dead by security forces. The attack unfolded across multiple locations near the town of Kokhav Yair, a community situated close to the boundary with the occupied West Bank, and extended to the nearby towns of Tzur Natan and Tzur Yitzhak, as well as the area around the Israeli settlement of Salit inside the West Bank. Authorities initially feared a coordinated multi-team assault before determining that a single gunman — identified as a resident of the Arab town of Taybeh in his 20s — and a suspected accomplice who may have served as his driver were responsible. Police killed the attacker after a brief chase and recovered the weapon and vehicle used. A second suspect was arrested after allegedly attempting to stab officers with a glass bottle and making statements suggesting involvement in the attack.
Israel's emergency service Magen David Adom said a man of around 35 years old died of gunshot wounds — later identified as a 55-year-old military reservist — while two of the five wounded were in serious condition and three in moderate condition. The attack prompted authorities to order nearby residents to stay indoors, and children in the area were kept in school lockdown for at least three hours. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his cabinet the attacker had "managed, before being eliminated, to murder an Israeli citizen and injure others," praising the security forces' response. Police chief Danny Levy confirmed the attacker had a prior criminal record, though precise motives were not immediately established.
The attack occurred against a backdrop of sharply elevated tensions. In the occupied West Bank, a surge in violence has accompanied Israel's ongoing military campaign in Gaza, which began after the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023 that killed around 1,200 people and took 251 hostage. Over the weekend, a seven-month-old Palestinian baby was killed after Israeli troops opened fire on a car in the West Bank, and a spate of Israeli settler attacks had already inflamed the situation. Following Sunday's shooting, Israeli forces closed two checkpoints at entrances to the city of Tulkarem, north of the attack sites, and set up temporary checkpoints near Qalqilya.
About one-fifth of Israeli citizens are Arab, many of whom identify as Palestinian. A regional council head captured a wider unease, saying that since 7 October the scenario communities had feared was cross-border infiltration — not an attack carried out by Israeli citizens. Hard-line National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who oversees the police, posted a video of himself beside what appeared to be a blurred image of the dead gunman and declared, "This is the end of every terrorist." Ben-Gvir also invoked a recently passed Israeli law — currently facing legal challenges — that seeks to impose the death penalty as a default sentence on Palestinians convicted of deadly terror attacks in military courts, warning it applied to Israeli Arab citizens as well. His comments drew both support from the nationalist right and sharp criticism from other Israeli leaders, who have previously condemned his use of contentious public statements and videos.