Yehonatan Deutsch, aged 23 from Beit She'an, was murdered on Sunday in a drive-by shooting attack on the road leading to the village of Rotem in the Jordan Valley.
Yehonatan was released last week from active service in the IDF's elite Maglan Unit and saw intense combat during the first months of the war in Gaza. Yehonatan, who was scheduled to wed in the coming weeks, was on the way to his fiancée's hometown of Ofra when he was gunned down.
Deutsch graduated from the Beit She'an Yeshiva High School, was a counselor in the Bnei Akiva youth movement, and volunteered a good deal in his city. He is survived by his parents, four brothers, and one sister.
In addition, a 33-year-old was moderately wounded after being shot at the nearby Mehola Junction.
Emergency medical crews tended to the two victims but pronounced the 23-year-old dead a short time later. A MDA helicopter evacuated the moderately wounded victim who was suffering from wounds to his lower extremities.
MDA Senior EMT Mati Carmi said: "We received a report from the MDA call center about a shooting attack near the Mehola Junction. When we arrived, we attended to a 33-year-old man who was conscious with gunshot wounds to his lower body. While providing medical treatment, including stopping bleeding, and coordinating with the MDA helicopter that landed at the scene, we received a report of another victim found unconscious with gunshot wounds in a different vehicle."
MDA paramedic Denis Polakov added: "We arrived at the scene of the attack and saw a vehicle on the side of the road with the driver, a young man in his 20s, unconscious with gunshot wounds. Together with an IDF medical team that arrived at the scene, we conducted medical examinations but his injuries were fatal, and after resuscitation attempts, we had no choice but to pronounce him dead."
Security forces are searching for the terrorists who fled the scene after committing the attack. According to Palestinian Arab reports, IDF forces have begun operating in the villages of Kardala and Bardala in the northern Jordan Valley.
According to a preliminary investigation, two terrorists fired at least eight bullets at the two vehicles traveling on the eastbound Route 90. The terrorist carried out the attack with a rifle and the two attacked vehicles were 250 meters apart from each other.
The victim who was critically wounded continued to drive toward Rotem where an emergency medical team pronounced him dead. The second driver, who was moderately wounded, continued driving toward Mehola.