At least one person was killed in a suspected shooting attack in the area of Neveh Tzuf in the West Bank, north of Ramallah, on Sunday afternoon.
The killed individual, a man in his 30s, was originally in critical condition. His condition was temporarily updated to severe after Magen David Adom personnel succeeded in restoring his pulse through CPR.
He was evacuated by helicopter to Rabin Medical Center-Beilinson Campus in Petah Tikva, before succumbing to his wounds.
Security forces, Magen David Adom emergency responders at the scene of a suspected terror drive-by shooting near Neveh Tzuf, West Bank, September 20, 2026. (credit: MAGEN DAVID ADOM)
“We arrived at the scene and saw a male in his 30s inside a vehicle, unconscious, with multiple gunshot wounds,” said MDA paramedic David Trachtenberg. “We removed him from the vehicle and immediately began providing life-saving medical treatment.”
“We placed him in the ambulance, and with the assistance of a physician and a paramedic, immediately began evacuating him to the hospital while fighting for his life, providing medical treatment and blood products, in the hope of stabilizing his condition.”
Car suspected to belong to the terrorist who shot at least one person nearby Neveh Tzuf in the West Bank, September 20, 2026. (credit: SECTION 27A COPYRIGHT ACT)IDF begins manhunt after terrorist
According to initial reports, the terrorist opened fire at Israelis bathing in a nearby spring from what appears to be a red Mitsubishi SUV with Palestinian Authority license plates. He then exited the vehicle armed and fled the scene on foot.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir conducted a situational assessment and ordered the deployment of additional security forces to the sector to aid in a manhunt.
The IDF has established roadblocks in the area, and Highway 465 has been closed to traffic in both directions.
Soldiers from the Binyamin Regional Brigade, the Duvdevan counterterrorism unit, Israel Police, and several other units have mobilized to pursue the terrorist. Security forces have established a blockade around the nearby village of Deir Nidham.
Security forces are searching on foot and using drones, as well as other air force assets.
Senior IDF and Israel Police officers, including IDF Central Command chief Maj.-Gen. Avi Bluth, IDF Judea and Samaria Division chief Brig.-Gen Kobi Heller, and Israel Police’s Judea and Samaria District chief and Samaria region chief all attended the scene for situational assessments and to command and coordinate the responses of security forces, including the manhunt.
IDF Central Command Chief Maj.-Gen. Avi Bluth and Judea and Samaria Division Brig.-Gen. Kobi Heller hold a situational assessment following a terror attack in the West Bank, September 20, 2026. (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON’S UNIT)
Mateh Binyamin Regional Council Israel Ganz also attended the scene.
“Residents came to the spring to [ritually] immerse themselves [in the spring] ahead of Yom Kippur when a terrorist arrived armed with an M-16 and opened fire on them. One of the residents was critically wounded and is being evacuated to the hospital,” Ganz said.
“IDF, Israel Police, Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), and Border Police personnel are all engaged in a manhunt for the terrorist, who is still in the area. This is a very grave incident, but we are strong and will overcome it. God willing, by the time Sukkot arrives, this place will be filled with hikers; no one will drive us away from here,” Ganz added.
Hamas praises, does not explicitly claim responsibility for terror attack
Hamas “welcomed the heroic shooting operation” in a statement published on Sunday afternoon.
The terror attack was “carried out by one of the heroes of our people,” the Gazan terror group said.
“It was a clear and practical response to the statements and incursion of the criminal [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, as well as his provocative and theatrical actions inside the tunnels beneath the blessed al-Aqsa Mosque,” Hamas stated.
“We affirm that this blessed and heroic operation is a legitimate and natural response to the ongoing incursions by settlers and occupation leaders into the blessed al-Aqsa Mosque and their desecration of it. It is also an affirmation that Jeruslaem and al-Aqsa are worth defending with lives and souls,” the terror group added.
“This operation constitutes a decisive response to the settlers’ lawlessness and their escalating crimes against our people in the villages and towns of the occupied West Bank, and a clear message that settler terrorism will only be confronted with further painful blows,” Hamas said.
The terror group concluded by “calling upon our steadfast people in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, and throughout all parts of our homeland, to escalate resistance [terror] operations using all their means, confront the lawlessness of the occupation and its settlers, and inaugurate a new phase of confrontation until the occupation is pushed back from our land and holy sites.”
Amir Bohbot contributed to this report.