Israeli, an ex-US Marine wounded in West Bank shooting, gunman caught
Mar 20, 2023
Tel Aviv [Israel], March 20 : In yet another terror attack in the West Bank town of Huwara, an Israeli, former US Marine was shot and seriously wounded, Times of Israel reported.
According to the Times of Israel, the gunman was detained after a brief chase.
The victim, 40s, was named David Stern from the settlement of Itamar, a former US Marine who works as a weapons instructor. US Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides confirmed that Stern is also an American citizen.
As per the Times of Israel, the gunman was earlier shot by the victim as well as by the officers but he somehow fled away from the scene.
The makeshift "Carlo" submachine gun used in the attack, which the terrorist apparently dropped while fleeing, was also seized.
The gunman was taken by military medics for treatment at a hospital before he was to be handed over to the Shin Bet for questioning, reported Times of Israel.
Palestinian media named him as Laith Nadim Nassar, from the nearby village of Madama, south of Nablus.
The west bank is slowly and gradually becoming the hub of the terror attack. A similar incident took place on Thursday in West Bank where 4 Palestinians were killed and 23 others were wounded in Jenin, CNN reported.
The Health Ministry stated that five of those injured are in critical condition.
However, the Israeli security forces said that those neutralized were suspected of terrorist activity.
In a statement, the Israeli security forces said they "neutralized two operatives of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist organization who are suspected of significant terrorist activity." A third person "was neutralized after he tried to attack the fighters with an iron crowbar," the statement added, CNN reported.
During the operation, armed persons fired at the forces, and casualties were seen as a result.
Hamas announced in a statement that two of the Palestinians killed in Jenin were its members, according to CNN.
"The cowardly assassination of two leaders of the resistance will not go unpunished. The occupation has tried us before, knows for sure that our response is coming and that the march of the resistance continues until liberation," the Hamas statement read.
Hamas, a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization, which took control of the Gaza Strip by removing the Fattah officials. It resulted in the change in powers and the de facto division of the Palestinian territories into two entities, the West Bank governed by the Palestinian National Authority, and Gaza governed by Hamas.
