Drive-by shootings near West Bank border kill one in central Israel
Police kill suspect after chase and arrest second man, ministers push harsher measures as violence spreads
Images
A ripped pair of jeans and a shoe lie on the floor at a restaurant inside a gas station, following what Israeli police say was a series of shooting attacks, near Kochav Yair, Israel, June 7, 2026 (Reuters)
Reuters
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir reacts as flotilla activists are detained by Israeli forces, in Ashdod Port, Israel, in this screen grab taken from a video released on May 20, 2026 (Office Of Itamar Ben Gvir)
Office Of Itamar Ben Gvir
A gunman opened fire from a car at three locations in central Israel near the occupied West Bank on Sunday, killing one man and wounding five others, according to Reuters in a report carried by The Independent. Israeli police said the suspected attacker was killed after a brief pursuit, and that officers recovered the firearm and the vehicle used in the shootings. A second suspect was later arrested, police said.
The shootings took place in and around Kochav Yair, inside Israel close to the West Bank city of Qalqilya, Reuters reported. Israel’s ambulance service said two of the wounded were in serious condition. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, though Hamas praised the attack without claiming it.
The episode landed in the middle of an already crowded escalation cycle. Reuters linked the attack to heightened tensions after Israeli settler attacks and the weekend killing of a Palestinian baby in the nearby West Bank, an incident that has its own competing accounts. Israeli forces were deployed to one of the sites in central Israel and to a nearby Israeli settlement in the West Bank after the shooting, Reuters reported, as security responses spilled across the Green Line.
Israeli political leaders used the incident to push familiar demands. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the gunman murdered an Israeli citizen before being eliminated, while President Isaac Herzog said he was shocked by what Israeli authorities described as a terror attack, Reuters reported. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for what he described as a “profound change” among Israeli Arabs, and Public Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir posted a video beside a blurred image of the dead suspect.
Reuters noted that violence in the West Bank has surged since the war in Gaza began in October 2023, with Israel stepping up raids that it says target militants, while civilians have also been killed. Sunday’s drive-by shooting showed how quickly that conflict bleeds into daily life inside Israel proper: a moving car, three firing points, and then a manhunt that ends with a body on the roadside.
Police said they recovered the weapon and the vehicle. By the end of the day, the case had already widened to include a second arrest.