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Photos: Published by Haaretz
Israeli soldiers at the scene of a West Bank shooting attack on Wednesday. Credit: IDF Spokesperson's Unit

Tzeela Gez.
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Assailants opened fire from a passing vehicle at Tzeela Gez and her husband near their home in Bruchin. Doctors delivered the baby in serious condition via emergency C-section. Israeli forces have launched a manhunt and encircled the nearby Palestinian village of Bruqin

by Josh Breiner, Hagar Shezaf, Bar Peleg, Ido Efrati for Haaretz

May 15, 2025

Tzeela Gez, a pregnant Israeli woman from the West Bank settlement of Bruchin, was killed in a shooting attack Wednesday night while on her way to give birth. Her husband was lightly wounded.

According to a spokesperson for Rabin Medical Center, doctors performed a Caesarean section and delivered the baby in serious but stable condition. He was later transferred to Schneider Children's Medical Center nearby. Despite hours of effort, doctors were unable to save the mother's life.

Gez was a 30-year-old resident of Bruchin who worked as a therapist. She leaves behind three additional children.

The incident occurred on Wednesday night when shots were fired at their car on a road connecting the West Bank settlements of Peduel and Bruchin.

The Magen David Adom team that arrived at the scene found Gez unconscious, with gunshot wounds to her chest and neck. A MDA paramedic said her husband had tried to treat her and stop the bleeding.

Two of Gez's friends looked after her children while the couple was on their way to the hospital. One friend told Israel's KAN Reshet B, that it took Gez 6 years to get pregnant. "She kept her pregnancy quiet; she was hospitalized and was on pregnancy watch. This pregnancy didn't come easily," Gez's friend said.

"She did everything so that the pregnancy would continue. She simply struggled with all her strength."

Another friend of Gez spoke about the difficult moment when Gez's children were informed of their mother's death. The friend said that Gez's husband wished to be the one to share the news with them. They began the morning normally, after which the children asked, "Where is Mom?" she said.

"Their father explained that he had something sad to tell them, that when he and mom were driving to the hospital to get their brother, the new baby, on the way there was a terrorist who shot at them, who shot mom," the friend said.

"Dad tried to save her and did everything he could, and doctors tried to save her. They successfully saved the baby, but mom they couldn't save, and sadly she passed away," she recounted.

"These were difficult moments, but their father managed to be there emotionally for every child."

Security forces are continuing their search for the gunman who opened fire at the couple while hiding on the side of the road. As part of the ongoing manhunt, Israeli troops have surrounded the village of Bruchin, near the site of the attack.

Earlier on Thursday, the IDF and the Shin Bet security service said that during the manhunt, forces identified armed terrorists inside a structure in the West Bank village of Tamun. Five of the terrorists were killed following a firefight, and one was apprehended.

According to the security agencies, the terrorists were involved in planning terror attacks, and while searching the area, three M-16 rifles were recovered along with four vests belonging to the terrorists.

In addition, Israel's Border Police forces arrested three armed terrorists in the West Bank village of Tubas and confiscated their weapons.

IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir arrived at the scene of the attack and said that the IDF will "utilize all its tools and will reach the murderers to settle the score with them."

Defense Minister Israel Katz said he had ordered the IDF to "identify the origin of the attackers and respond with maximum force," warning that "anyone who supports or shelters terrorists will pay a heavy price."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he was "deeply shocked by the horrific attack in Samaria against a pregnant woman and her husband, while they were making their way to the delivery room." Netanyahu added, "This despicable event reflects exactly the difference between us – those who cherish and bring life – and the despicable terrorists whose life's goal is to kill us and cut short lives.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir also commented, saying, "the right of the settlers to life overrides the freedom of movement of Palestinian Authority residents. The nonsense of the 'common fabric of life' of security officials costs us the blood of Jews."

Israel's President, Isaac Herzog said the attack was "a spine-chilling, horrific act of terror that shakes us to the core. At the very moment life was about to begin – life was taken in the most brutal way."

"Terror won't break the Israeli spirit. We will relentlessly track down terror wherever it hides," Herzog added.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich responded to the shooting attack that killed a pregnant woman in the West Bank on Wednesday night, saying that the cruelty of the "subhuman" attackers is "inconceivable."

"Just as we are flattening Rafah, Khan Yunis and Gaza, we have to flatten the terror hubs in Judea and Samaria" adding that the village of Bruchin near where the attack took place must be like the destroyed neighborhoods and villages in the Gaza Strip.
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Israeli Colonizer Killed; 118 Palestinians Killed on Thursday

by IMEMC News
May 16, 2025

An Israeli colonizer identified as Tzeela Gez, was killed by unknown gunmen in a shooting near a West Bank settlement. She was nine months pregnant, and was on her way to the hospital to give birth when she was killed.

Her baby was delivered by c-section at the hospital after her death, and was determined to be in stable condition.

Israel’s Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, responded to the shooting by stating that the Palestinian towns closest to the location of the shooting, Bruqin and az-Zawiya, should be ‘flattened’ like cities and towns in Gaza.

“Just as we are flattening Rafah, Khan Younis and Gaza (in the Gaza Strip), we must also flatten the terror nests in [the West Bank],” Smotrich wrote on social media..

No Palestinian groups claimed responsibility for the shooting, which occurred in the midst of the largest Israeli military operations in the West Bank in two decades (lasting over 100 days in Tulkarem and Jenin), and while the Israeli military continues bombing Gaza (for over 500 days, with 50,000 killed).

On Thursday, following the shooting of Gez, Israeli forces invaded the nearby Palestinian villages of Tamoun and Tubas, killing five Palestinians and occupying Palestinian homes.

The Israeli military claimed that soldiers had identified “terrorists” in a building in Tammun, and besieged the building, setting it on fire and shooting numerous rounds, killing four.

Local sources reported that an Israeli occupation bulldozer ( D10 ) began demolishing the house, while the Israeli occupation forces are still besieging the area. A photo also circulated on social media showing an Israeli military bulldozer carrying the body of one of the Palestinians who was killed in the besieged house.

Israel’s general chief of staff, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, visited the troops who were attacking the villages and offered his support for their ongoing attacks on the Palestinian villagers.

Local sources reported that special forces infiltrated Tammun, south of Tubas, and surrounded a house. Military reinforcements, including a bulldozer, followed, and the besieged house was targeted several times with weapons and Energa missiles, destroying the home completely.

Azmi Balawna, the director of education in Tubas, reported that an Israeli occupation patrol hit a bus carrying students to a kindergarten in Tammun, while the children were inside, causing panic.

At the same time, special forces infiltrated the city of Tubas, followed by military reinforcements, which were stationed at its southern entrance.

The Israeli occupation forces also stormed the headquarters of Al-Quds Open University in Tubas and blew up a café next to the university.

The governor of Tubas also announced a delay in official working hours due to the situation in the governorate .

Meanwhile, armed groups of illegal paramilitary Israeli colonizer, under the protection of Israeli occupation forces, closed the northern entrance to the Al-Masafer and Bedouin areas east of Yatta, which leads to a large number of villages, ruins, and population centers. They set tires on fire on the road, attacked citizens’ vehicles, and prevented them from passing and reaching their homes.

Israeli occupation forces (IOF) detained more than 70 Palestinians on Thursday during a raid into Al-Fawwar refugee camp, south of Hebron. The forces also raided and searched homes and tortured a number of them.

Local sources reported that occupation forces stormed the camp, raided the homes of citizens, and detained a large number of them. They also assaulted the director of public relations at the Prisoners’ Club, Amjad al-Najjar, his wife, and children, causing his wife to suffer a fracture in her hand. They also smashed the furniture in the house.

As the Israeli genocide in Gaza intensifies, Israeli soldiers and paramilitary colonizers have escalated their military offensive across the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem, resulting in the killing of more than 978 Palestinians, injuring thousands, and abducting over 17,000 people since October 7, 2023.

281 Palestinians were killed in Jenin, 210 in Tulkarem, 116 in Nablus, 92 in Tubas, 83 in Hebron, 63 in Ramallah, 53 in Jerusalem, 36 in Qalqilia, 26 in Bethlehem, and 12 in Jericho and northern plains.

This year alone, 143 Palestinians, including 24 children and 5 women, have been killed in the West Bank, one of the slain Palestinians was killed by illegal Israeli paramilitary colonizers.

In the destroyed, starved, and besieged Gaza Strip, the ongoing Israeli genocide has resulted in the killing of more than 52,928 Palestinians, including at least 15,626 children, 9,807 women, 3,855 elderly individuals, 237 journalists, and 23 medics. At least 119,864 people—mostly children, women, and the elderly—have been wounded since October 7, 2023.
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via Twitter
Mairav Zonszein
@MairavZ
7:10 AM · May 16, 2025

Wow. The sister of the Israeli woman settler murdered in the West Bank yesterday screams at her regional council head, Yossi Dagan, a staunch annexationist, to stop using her death for his politics and to step down from the stage. “Let us honor her with love!”
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‘I don’t want politics’: Sister of terror victim cuts off settler leader’s eulogy

Manhunt continues for terrorist who killed 30-year-old pregnant woman Tzeela Gez; child delivered in emergency C-section still in serious condition

By ToI[Times of Israel] Staff
16 May 2025, 3:59 am


Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan was cut off during his speech at terror victim Tzeela Gez’s funeral on Thursday by the victim’s sister, after making political comments despite being told not to do so.

“We need to tell the truth,” said Dagan, asserting that the writing had been on the wall for the terror attack. “We warned, and we shouted, and this was the fourth shooting attack on the same route, in the same place.”

“We came to Israel to live here, not to be sitting ducks,” he exclaimed, demanding to know “why the village of murderers, Bruqin (the Palestinian village close to the site of the terror attack), is still standing?”

After those remarks, Gez’s sister, Shaked, cut him off.

“I don’t want politics!” she shouted through tears. “I want love for my sister! Let us finish with love for my sister!”

In response, Dagan insisted that he is “respecting your sister,” to which Shaked shot back: “No! No, you’re not.”

She then told Dagan to “get down off the podium, please.”

Dagan initially tried to continue his criticisms of the government, but eventually relented after further protests from Shaked and other mourners at the funeral.

“We will express love, like you say,” Dagan said. “I respect your pain, we’ll continue [this conversation] later. I call on everyone to express love, like your sister would’ve asked, and we’ll say our criticisms later, after the funeral.”

Tzeela Gez, 30, was shot on Wednesday night in the northern West Bank while driving to give birth to her child. She was evacuated in critical condition to Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikvah, where she was later declared dead. Hospital staff executed an emergency C-section to save the newborn, who remains in serious condition.

Her husband, Hananel, was lightly hurt in the incident.

Hamas praised the killing as “heroic,” and called for more such acts, but did not claim responsibility.

The manhunt for the terrorist, who is believed to have acted alone, is ongoing.

“We don’t know where he came from; he came alone,” a senior official from the IDF’s Central Command told the Maariv daily. “We’re still in the manhunt, so I won’t get into details. Right now, there’s nothing new.”

The Israel Defense Forces has been surrounding the Palestinian towns of Bruqin and Kafr ad-Dik, which are near the site of the attack, amid the hunt for the terrorist.

Far-right Otzma Yehudit MK Limor Son Har-Melech blamed IDF Central Command chief Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth for Gez’s death. Settler politicians have previously slammed the IDF following terror attacks in the West Bank.

“A woman was murdered on her way to the delivery room, and it’s all your fault,” Har-Melech said, directly addressing Bluth.

She accused the IDF general of endangering Israeli lives by reopening checkpoints despite intelligence indicating the presence of a terror cell in the area.

“I gave you a chance. I wanted to believe you would act differently than those who came before you,” she continued. “I won’t stay silent about you anymore.”

Bluth, who comes from a religious-Zionist background and grew up in the West Bank settlement of Neveh Tzuf, was originally welcomed by settlers when appointed to lead the IDF’s Central Command after years of tensions with his predecessor, Yehuda Fox.

The West Bank has seen a surge in violence since Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip ignited the war there.

Since then, troops have arrested some 6,000 wanted Palestinians across the West Bank, including more than 2,350 affiliated with Hamas. According to the Palestinian Authority health ministry, more than 950 West Bank Palestinians have been killed in that time. The IDF says the vast majority of them were gunmen killed in exchanges of fire, rioters who clashed with troops or terrorists carrying out attacks.

There has also been a significant increase in settler violence against Palestinians since the start of the war.

During the same period, 52 people, including Israeli security personnel, have been killed in terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank. Another eight members of the security forces were killed in clashes with terror operatives in the West Bank.

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