WarSclerotic

One Israeli was killed and two others injured in a double attack outside the West Bank settlement of Ariel, rescue services reported.

According to initial reports a man in his 20s was seriously injured at the Gitai Avishar Junction after being stabbed by a Palestinian assailant who stole a weapon and then a car before fleeing the scene.

The injured were evacuated to Beilinson Hospital for medical treatment.

The Gitai Avishar Junction on Highway 5 is a central intersection of the highway which links Ariel to central Israel, with hundreds of Palestinian workers traveling through it daily.

The IDF has set up checkpoints and has begun checking vehicles in the area and a large number of troops are also on their way to the scene to take part in the search for the attacker.

“There was a report of a shooting at the Ariel junction in the area of ​​the Ephraim Regional Brigade. The details are under examination,” the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said in a statement, later adding that following the initial investigations that two separate attacks had taken place.

“The pursuit of the terrorists is ongoing.”

Yossi Dagan, the head of the Samaria Regional Council said following the attack that the residents are relying on the IDF to find the attackers and kill them.

“We are strengthening the heroes of the IDF and relying on the defense establishment and the IDF to reach these despicable terrorists and kill them. We will never break and we will never retreat. Settlement in Samaria is part of the people of Israel and part of the State of Israel. All the residents of Shomron, together with all the citizens of the State of Israel, support the IDF and reinforce our heroic soldiers.”

-Tovah Lazaroff contributed to this report.