Two people were murdered at the junction near the community of Givat Assaf in the Binyamin region, between the towns of Beit El and Ofra, after a terrorist opened fire on soldiers and civilians standing at a hitchhiking station.
MDA emergency medical teams treated two others who were wounded. An Israeli man was evacuated to Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital in Jerusalem in critical condition, while an Israeli woman was evacuated to Shaarei Tzedek hospital in Jerusalem in serious condition.
Initial investigations indicate that that a terrorist arrived in a vehicle to the Givat Assaf junction, got out of the vehicle and approached the hitchhiking station there, and opened fire on people standing at the junction. The terrorist then returned to his car and, with the assistance of another terrorist in the vehicle, escaped from the scene unharmed. Following the attack, the IDF bolstered forces in the area and encircled the city of Ramallah.
The IDF said in a statement: "Following reports of a shooting in the Binyamin region, a terrorist got out of his car and opened fire on IDF forces and civilians who were at the hitchhiking station at the junction. A number of wounded persons are at the scene."
"IDF forces are searching the area for the terrorists, who escaped the scene, and are carrying out checks at all the entrances and exits in the area."
Paramedic Shalom Galil described the scene of the attack.
"When we arrived, we saw four young people with gunshot wounds near the hitchhiking station. We conducted searches and administered medical aid. Two of them, a young woman and a young man about 20 years of age, received life-saving medical treatment at the scene. We evacuated them to the hospital as they were in critical condition. Two youths in critical condition remained for treatment by IDF forces at the scene."
MK Betzalel Smotrich (Jewish Home) responded to news of the attack.
"After the difficult aftermath of the attack now, the Jewish Home must demand from Netanyahu to immediately close roads in Judea and Samaria to Palestinians, and to pass next week our law to normalize the young settlements. We cannot be responsible for the abandonment of Jewish blood."
Writing on Twitter, Jewish Home MK Moti Yogev, a member of the Knesset foreign affairs and defense committee, said, "The large number of attacks in Judea and Samaria is inconsistent with the desire of the defense establishment to reduce the forces in Judea and Samaria. I call on the prime minister and the defense minister to freeze the reduction of forces and to reassess the security situation, in order to grant more tools to create deterrence, defense and security for the residents of Judea and Samaria."
Secretary General of the National Union, Ofir Sofer, responded, “In the year 1996, the Oslo crisis exploded in the face of Netanyahu and the entire people of Israel with the events of the Kotel tunnel. If the government of Israel doesn’t recover, we will get hit with a heavy terror onslaught.”
Zionist Union MK Michal Biran responded, "Less than a day after we buried the newborn of Shira and Amichai, another terrible attack. New families are added to the bereaved family. The calls made by Shaked, Smotrich and others that will soon be heard again, that settlement in Ofra and its environs must be normalized, is pure populism and crude dancing on the blood of the dead and the wounded. Murder does not confer [land] ownership, and this is not the time or place to deliberate over it."