A terrorist bombing attack at a natural spring outside the West Bank settlement of Dolev on Friday morning claimed the life of teenage girl while leaving her father and brother seriously injured, Israeli officials said.
Rina Shnerb, 17, of Lod, was critically wounded in the attack on her family. She was treated at the scene from civilian and military medics before being pronounced dead of her injuries. Her father Eitan, a rabbi in Lod, and brother Dvir, 19, were taken by military helicopter to a Jerusalem hospital in serious condition, the Magen David Adom (MDA) ambulance service said.
An MDA spokesman added their condition was described as “serious”. The military said it was being treated as a terrorist attack, although it wasn’t immediately clear whether an explosive device was thrown at them or had been planted earlier.
The hilly central region of the West Bank around Dolev is studded with olive groves and orchards and is popular with hikers.
On Friday morning the Israeli military quickly cordoned off the area around Ein Bobin spring near the Palestinian village of Deir Ibzi’, while soldiers blocked roads and searched the area.
An Israeli ambulance and security forces gather in the Palestinian village of Dayr Ibzi close to the site where a bomb exploded near the Israeli settlement of Dolev in the West Bank on August 23, 2019 injuring at least three people. – Israeli medics said an explosion near a water spring had injured three people, including a 17-year-old in critical condition. Two others, 46 and 20, were being evacuated to hospital by helicopter, the Magen David Adom rescue service said. (ABBAS MOMANI/AFP/Getty Images)
The natural water source was named Danny Spring by Israelis after an Israeli student, Danny Gonen, was murdered there in 2015. That attack was claimed by a group claiming to be affiliated with the Islamist terrorist group Hamas.
Security services were reportedly tracking a car that fled the scene shortly after the explosion on Friday morning. “IDF soldiers are searching the area,” the military said in a statement.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who also serves as defense minister, said he was receiving constant updates on the search effort and would meet soon with the commanders of the country’s security forces.
In a statement Netanyahu offered his “deep condolences” to the family and wished swift recuperation to the wounded. “We will continue to strengthen [Jewish] communities. We will spread our roots deeper and strike out at our enemies.”
He added that “Security force are in pursuit of the vile terrorists. We will reach them. Our long arm will pay them their dues.”
PM and DM Benjamin Netanyahu:
On behalf of myself and the citizens of Israel, I send deep condolences to the family of young Rina Shnerb who was murdered in a harsh terrorist attack this morning, and wishes for a quick recovery to her father, Rabbi Eitan, and her brother Dvir.— PM of Israel (@IsraeliPM) August 23, 2019
We will continue to strengthen settlement. We will deepen our roots and strike at our enemies. The security arms are in pursuit after the abhorrent terrorists. We will apprehend them. The long arm of Israel reaches all those who seek our lives and will settle accounts with them.
— PM of Israel (@IsraeliPM) August 23, 2019
There have been concerns of a possible increase in violence in the run up to Israel’s September 17 general election.
A week ago, a Palestinian car-ramming attack in the West Bank wounded two Israelis, while the assailant was shot dead.
On August 8, an off-duty Israeli soldier’s body was found with multiple stab wounds. Two Palestinian suspects were later arrested.
Late Thursday, a Palestinian threw grenades at Israeli soldiers while attempting to cross the Gaza border and was shot by Israeli forces, leaving him wounded, the army and the Gaza health ministry said.
Gaza terrorists have also launched six missiles at Israel in the past week.
The most recent were on Wednesday and in retaliation the army said it struck “a number of military targets in a Hamas naval facility in the northern Gaza Strip”.
AFP contributed to this story