The terrorists responsible for yesterday\'s attack near the Shomron community of Emanuel added two more Jews to their list of victims today: a several-hours old baby, and an IDF officer. The baby\'s mother, 22-year-old Yehudit Weinberg, was serious wounded in the attack, and doctors at Schneider Children\'s Hospital in Petach Tikvah performed an emergency Caesarian section last night. This morning, however, the baby boy succumbed to wounds he suffered while still in the womb.
Also this morning, after hours of pursuit of the terrorists since yesterday, soldiers spotted the killers in a valley near Emanuel. Lt. Elad Grandir, 21, of Haifa, was killed in the ensuing shoot-out, and three other soldiers were wounded, including one seriously. One terrorist was also killed. Emanuel residents were not allowed out of their homes this morning from shortly after 5:30, when the terrorists were first spotted, until 11:00, when the army estimated that the danger had passed.
Several of the victims are hospitalized in serious condition. The attack was the first fatal terrorist assault in 26 days, more than a week longer than any other similar period since the Oslo War began. Capt. Haggai Lev was killed when Arabs in Rafiach ambushed his unit during its search for arms-smuggling tunnels last week.
The seven other dead in yesterday\'s attack are:
Nine-month-old Tif\'eret Sarah Shilon (her twin sister Galia Esther was unhurt, but her 2-year-old brother Or Chaim is listed in moderate condition);
her father Gal, 30 - who was killed after being informed of the attack and rushing from home to try to help;
Gal’s mother-in-law Zilpa Kashi, 65;
Yonatan Gamliel, 16, a yeshiva student in Bnei Brak. He called his mother after the shooting to say he was OK, and was killed shortly afterwards;
Ilana Siton, 35;
Karen Kashani, 20;
Galilah Ades, 46.
Zilpa Kashi lived in Givatayim, while the other victims were all from Emanuel.
At least four Palestinian terrorist organizations took credit for the attack, but it now appears that Hamas was responsible. It is believed that the terrorist cell that carried out a similar bomb-and-shoot attack outside Emanuel last Chanukah (December 2001; 11 people were killed) perpetrated yesterday\'s attack as well. Only some of the original terrorists have been arrested.
Conflicting voices were heard in the Palestinian Authority about the slaughter. Although Arafat\'s Fatah organization was quick to take credit for it, the PA itself issued an official condemnation of attacks on \"innocent civilians.\" The condemnation was given an interesting spin by PA cabinet secretary Ahmed Abdel Rahman: ”[These civilians] were in the wrong place at the wrong time. If they call themselves Israeli citizens, let them stay there and not come into our land.\" He further said that the official condemnation was issued only because of heavy international pressure, and that the PA \"supports and even aids\" terrorist attacks in Judea and Samaria.
Israeli-Arab Knesset Member Azmi Bishara was almost as outspoken: \"If the Palestinians want a state, attacks like this help them,\" he told an Egyptian television station yesterday. Bishara refused to condemn the attack, saying afterwards, \"I have always been against attacks against civilians - but never in the territories [Judea and Samaria]... [These attacks] show that the desire for Palestinian resistance has not broken.\"
Also this morning, after hours of pursuit of the terrorists since yesterday, soldiers spotted the killers in a valley near Emanuel. Lt. Elad Grandir, 21, of Haifa, was killed in the ensuing shoot-out, and three other soldiers were wounded, including one seriously. One terrorist was also killed. Emanuel residents were not allowed out of their homes this morning from shortly after 5:30, when the terrorists were first spotted, until 11:00, when the army estimated that the danger had passed.
Several of the victims are hospitalized in serious condition. The attack was the first fatal terrorist assault in 26 days, more than a week longer than any other similar period since the Oslo War began. Capt. Haggai Lev was killed when Arabs in Rafiach ambushed his unit during its search for arms-smuggling tunnels last week.
The seven other dead in yesterday\'s attack are:
Nine-month-old Tif\'eret Sarah Shilon (her twin sister Galia Esther was unhurt, but her 2-year-old brother Or Chaim is listed in moderate condition);
her father Gal, 30 - who was killed after being informed of the attack and rushing from home to try to help;
Gal’s mother-in-law Zilpa Kashi, 65;
Yonatan Gamliel, 16, a yeshiva student in Bnei Brak. He called his mother after the shooting to say he was OK, and was killed shortly afterwards;
Ilana Siton, 35;
Karen Kashani, 20;
Galilah Ades, 46.
Zilpa Kashi lived in Givatayim, while the other victims were all from Emanuel.
At least four Palestinian terrorist organizations took credit for the attack, but it now appears that Hamas was responsible. It is believed that the terrorist cell that carried out a similar bomb-and-shoot attack outside Emanuel last Chanukah (December 2001; 11 people were killed) perpetrated yesterday\'s attack as well. Only some of the original terrorists have been arrested.
Conflicting voices were heard in the Palestinian Authority about the slaughter. Although Arafat\'s Fatah organization was quick to take credit for it, the PA itself issued an official condemnation of attacks on \"innocent civilians.\" The condemnation was given an interesting spin by PA cabinet secretary Ahmed Abdel Rahman: ”[These civilians] were in the wrong place at the wrong time. If they call themselves Israeli citizens, let them stay there and not come into our land.\" He further said that the official condemnation was issued only because of heavy international pressure, and that the PA \"supports and even aids\" terrorist attacks in Judea and Samaria.
Israeli-Arab Knesset Member Azmi Bishara was almost as outspoken: \"If the Palestinians want a state, attacks like this help them,\" he told an Egyptian television station yesterday. Bishara refused to condemn the attack, saying afterwards, \"I have always been against attacks against civilians - but never in the territories [Judea and Samaria]... [These attacks] show that the desire for Palestinian resistance has not broken.\"