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Photo By Hatzalah (Israeli Volunteer Emergency Medical Service Organization)

The scene of the shooting. Hatzalah
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by IMEMC & Agencies

Israeli sources have reported, on Thursday evening, that a husband and his wife, living in the Naria Israeli settlement in the northern part of the occupied West Bank, were killed in a shooting attack. Their children, who were with them in the car, were not hurt.

The sources said the slain couple, Eitam Henkin and his wife Naama Henkin, are in their 30s, and that they were driving along with their four children, who are between the ages of four months and nine years of age.

The attack took place between of Itamar and Elan Moreh Israeli colonies, in the northern part of the occupied West Bank.

The Israeli army said it is conducting extensive searches in the area, in an attempt to locate and apprehend the shooters.

Israeli medics rushed to the scene, and said the husband and his wife, were shot in the upper body, and were declared dead at the scene, Israeli Ynet News has reported.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attack was the outcome of what he called “Palestinian incitement,” and claimed that the attackers “knew they were killing a mother and father, because their children were with them in the car.”

Netanyahu ordered Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon, Israeli Army Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot to deploy more troops in the West Bank, and to locate the shooters.

UN Special Coordinator for "Middle East Peace Process" Nicholai Mladinov condemned the attack, and called for "bringing the assailants to justice."

Israeli President Reuven Rivilin also denounced the attack and said, "Israel will continue to fight against terrorism," Israeli daily Haaretz has reported.

Also, an Israeli woman was injured, on Thursday at night, after stones were hurled on her car, while driving near Itzhar Junction, in the occupied West Bank.

Israeli sources said the slain settler, Eitam, is a reserve officer of the "Sayeret Matkal" (General Staff Reconnaissance Unit), which is a Special Forces Unit - a field intelligence-gathering unit that operates behind what Israel calls "enemy lines to obtain strategic intelligence."

The unit, established in 1957, conducts "counter-terrorism and hostage rescue operations in behind enemy lines." It includes among its ranks former combatants and senior military leaders, one them was Ariel Sharon, the deceased Israeli Prime Minister.

The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) issued a statement blessing the attack, and considered it "a natural response to the increasing, and ongoing crimes carried out by Israeli soldiers and settlers, especially the burning of burning of the Dawabsha family after firebombing their home in Douma village, near Nablus on July 31 2015."

Ali Dawabsha, 18 months of age, was was burnt to death, while his father Sa'ad, and mother Reham, suffered serious burns, and died of their wounds. Ahmad, five years of age, is the only survivor, and is still receiving treatment at an Israeli hospital for severe burns.

Following the Thursday fatal shooting, dozens of Israeli settlers living in a number of illegal colonies, attacked homes in Burin village and Huwwara town, south of Nablus, and tried to destroy one home.

Israeli soldiers also invaded Huwwara, Beit Forik and Beit Dajan, and clashed with dozens of Palestinian youths.

The army closed various roads and intersections, south and southeast of Nablus, and prevented the Palestinians from crossing, while the Huwwara Local Council opened its doors to host the residents who were unable to return home.
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by Chaim Levinson and Barak Ravid for Haaretz
Oct 02, 2015 1:21 AM

A couple were killed in a shooting attack on Thursday evening in the northern West Bank.

The two, Eitam and Naama Henkin, were driving with four of their six children down a road between the settlements of Elon Moreh and Itamar, near the Palestinian village of Furik, east of Nablus. The children, aged 9, 7, 4 and 4 months were sitting in the back seat and were not hurt during the incident. The family, which resides in a nearby settlement of Neria, was on its way home from a reunion of yeshiva graduates.  

Following the attack, the Israel Defense Forces closed the nearby Joseph's Tomb to worshippers.

Boaz Malka, a paramedic who arrived at the scene, said he found the family's car in the center of the road when the ambulance arrived. "A man in his thirties was lying next to it, with wounds to his upper body. A woman, also in her thirties, was sitting in the car with wounds to her upper body as well." He said the two were pronounced dead at the scene.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said about the attack was a "result of Palestinian incitement" that led "to an act of terror and murder." The prime minister, who was in New York for the UN General Assembly, said that the "murderers knew they were killing a mother and a father because their children were there." He added: "This is a difficult day for Israel."

Netanyahu later added that after consulting with Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon, IDF chief of staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot and Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen he instructed to reinforce troops in the West Bank following the attack.

Netanyahu also criticized Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and said he "did not hear a condemnation from the Palestinian Authority," noting that after an arson attack last month in the West Bank of Duma, where three members of the Palestinian Dawabsheh family were killed, "me and all of the Israeli leadership strongly condemned [the attack]." The prime minister said that while he visited 4-year-old Ahmen Dawabsheh, who survived the attack, in the hospital, "you can see the thundering silence on the part of the Palestinian Authority.

The Al-Aqsa Brigades, Fatah's military arm, said it welcomes the attack, "which constitutes a worthy response to the crimes of the occupation and the murder of the Dawabsheh family."

The area has seen several violent incidents recently. Last month, shots were fired toward an Israeli car on a road between the Palestinian town of Huwara and the Tapuach Junction. No casualties were reported. A week earlier, an Israeli man was lightly hurt when shots were fired toward his car near the Kedumim settlement.
Later on Thursday night, a 28-year-old woman was lightly wounded by stones hurled toward her at Itzhar Junction. Around the same time, a Palestinian driver was lightly hurt in a smiliar incident at the entrance to Nablus.

Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel said in response that the "murderous incident, that left a family bereft, is a result of a continuation of Abu Mazen's (Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas) speech yesterday at the UN. The response to this terrible murder must be the annexation of Area C and the expansion of settlements in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria."

Education Minister Naftali Bennett said that Abbas' "battle cry" was "acted upon tonight in Israel, and it's redder than blood. A people whose leaders encourage murder will never become a state."
MK Yair Lapid also said that the "odious murder" is in line with "Abu Mazen's policy of incitement and lies."

Knesset Member Zouheir Bahloul said that "there must be another way."

"A reality where kids are torched and parents are murdered is a reality we cannot tolerate," he said. "How much longer will innocent people on both sides pay with their lives for the hopelessness and the deadlocked peace process."