The Israel Defense Forces said Saturday that troops had killed a Palestinian suspect in the West Bank who may have been involved in a terror shooting attack earlier in the week that killed a pregnant woman as she was traveling to the hospital to give birth.
The suspect ran toward the forces operating in the West Bank town of Bruqin, while allegedly shouting “Allahu akbar” (God is greatest) and holding a backpack suspected of being booby-trapped, the military said, adding that he was shot dead.
Several other suspects of involvement in Wednesday’s deadly terror attack were arrested.
In the attack near Bruqin and the settlement of Bruchin, a Palestinian terrorist opened fire from the side of a road on Israeli motorists, killing Tzeela Gez, 30, and lightly wounding her husband, while they were heading to a hospital to give birth to their fourth child.
Gez was evacuated in critical condition to Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva, where she was later declared dead. Hospital staff conducted an emergency C-section to save the newborn, who remains in serious condition.
The Hamas terror group praised the killing as “heroic” and called for more such acts, but did not claim responsibility.
Tzeela Gez, who was killed in a West Bank terror shooting on the night of May 14, 2025 (Facebook, used in accordance with clause 27a of the copyright law)
IDF forces have been surrounding the Palestinian towns of Bruqin and Kafr ad-Dik, located near the site of the attack, amid the hunt for the terrorist, who is believed to have acted alone.
Separately, the IDF said Saturday evening that troops had killed a Palestinian who was allegedly hurling stones at Israeli motorists near the West Bank town of Burqa.
The IDF said troops of the 636th Combat Intelligence Collection Unit identified three suspects hurling stones at a main road and opened fire on them, killing one and wounding the other two.
The military said that on Thursday, it had killed five Palestinian Islamic Jihad members in the West Bank.
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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