A frustrated, angry, and mournful nation buried yet several more of its latest Oslo War victims this afternoon. Avi Volansky, 29, and his wife Avital, 27, who were shot to death in front of their two children aged 3 years and eight months, were buried today in Har HaMenuchot cemetery in Jerusalem. They were gunned down while driving home late last night to their home in Eli, capping off a day of murderous Palestinian terrorism that killed 13 people in five separate attacks.
The Volansky couple was attacked between Tapuach and Eli in the Shomron. Their three-year-old son Yigal was seriously wounded, though his condition has since improved, and their baby son was lightly hurt. Avital, a teacher in Shilo and Eli, was several months' pregnant when she was gunned down. Avi studied in Ariel College in the Shomron and in Yeshivat Har HaMor in Bayit V'Gan in Jerusalem, where the funeral began this afternoon.
This was the sixth attack in an 18-hour span, in which 100 people were injured; 42 are still hospitalized in Rebecca Seiff Hospital in Tzfat, Rambam in Haifa, and the Poriyah hospital outside Tiberias. The day began at 8:45 AM when a suicide terrorist blew himself up in a bus outside Meiron in the Galilee, claiming nine lives:
* Sari Goldstein, 22, of Karmiel
* Mordechai Friedman, 21, Ramat Beit Shemesh
* IDF Sgt. Yifat Gavrieli, 19, Mitzpei Adi,
* Marlan Menachem, 20, Moshav Safsufa.
* IDF Sgt. Omri Goldin, 20, Mitzpeh Aviv
* IDF Sgt.-Maj. Ronny Ranem, 28, from the Druze village of Rar.
* Meisun Hassan, 23, of the Arab village of Sajur in the Galilee
* Two Philipine female workers: Adlin Kononen and Rebecca Roga.
Eight seriously wounded victims remain hospitalized.
Less than three hours later, a bomb was hurled at an IDF force in Shechem, wounding three soldiers lightly and moderately. Around noontime, a pistol-wielding terrorist jumped into a Bezeq phone company truck and opened fire. Security guard Yekutiel Amitai, 34, was killed, as was bystander Nizal Awassat in the ensuing exchange of fire near the Damascus Gate of Jerusalem’s Old City. Seventeen people were wounded in that attack, including two seriously.
The next attack occurred on the road between Einav and Avnei Chefetz in the western Shomron, around 1:45 PM. Sagi Keisler, who was driving members of his family and two hitch-hiker soldiers, told Arutz-7 what happened:
"We had just passed Einav when a black Mercedes tried to overtake us from behind and two passengers started shooting at us. I was able to keep control of the car, even though I was hurt in the hand, and I put my foot down on the gas - I reached 140, 150 kms an hour - until I saw the Arabs stop and turn around and return to the Arab village Beit Lid... I realized at the time that it was up to me to save the family… If he had caught up to me, we wouldn't be here any more…" Three people were wounded, including a soldier in serious condition.
Later in the afternoon, four soldiers were wounded - one seriously - when Arabs detonated a roadside bomb under their vehicle near Beit El, north of Ramallah. The road is closed to civilian traffic.
In other anti-Israel violence, a terrorist armed with a rifle, ammunition, and grenades swam ashore in northern Gaza early yesterday morning, but was killed within a few hundred meters of the community of Dugit by alert IDF soldiers. Around 12 hours later, at the other end of the country, Hizbullah terrorists opened fire at Israeli jets from the Lebanese side of Israel's northern border; no one was hurt.
The Volansky couple was attacked between Tapuach and Eli in the Shomron. Their three-year-old son Yigal was seriously wounded, though his condition has since improved, and their baby son was lightly hurt. Avital, a teacher in Shilo and Eli, was several months' pregnant when she was gunned down. Avi studied in Ariel College in the Shomron and in Yeshivat Har HaMor in Bayit V'Gan in Jerusalem, where the funeral began this afternoon.
This was the sixth attack in an 18-hour span, in which 100 people were injured; 42 are still hospitalized in Rebecca Seiff Hospital in Tzfat, Rambam in Haifa, and the Poriyah hospital outside Tiberias. The day began at 8:45 AM when a suicide terrorist blew himself up in a bus outside Meiron in the Galilee, claiming nine lives:
* Sari Goldstein, 22, of Karmiel
* Mordechai Friedman, 21, Ramat Beit Shemesh
* IDF Sgt. Yifat Gavrieli, 19, Mitzpei Adi,
* Marlan Menachem, 20, Moshav Safsufa.
* IDF Sgt. Omri Goldin, 20, Mitzpeh Aviv
* IDF Sgt.-Maj. Ronny Ranem, 28, from the Druze village of Rar.
* Meisun Hassan, 23, of the Arab village of Sajur in the Galilee
* Two Philipine female workers: Adlin Kononen and Rebecca Roga.
Eight seriously wounded victims remain hospitalized.
Less than three hours later, a bomb was hurled at an IDF force in Shechem, wounding three soldiers lightly and moderately. Around noontime, a pistol-wielding terrorist jumped into a Bezeq phone company truck and opened fire. Security guard Yekutiel Amitai, 34, was killed, as was bystander Nizal Awassat in the ensuing exchange of fire near the Damascus Gate of Jerusalem’s Old City. Seventeen people were wounded in that attack, including two seriously.
The next attack occurred on the road between Einav and Avnei Chefetz in the western Shomron, around 1:45 PM. Sagi Keisler, who was driving members of his family and two hitch-hiker soldiers, told Arutz-7 what happened:
"We had just passed Einav when a black Mercedes tried to overtake us from behind and two passengers started shooting at us. I was able to keep control of the car, even though I was hurt in the hand, and I put my foot down on the gas - I reached 140, 150 kms an hour - until I saw the Arabs stop and turn around and return to the Arab village Beit Lid... I realized at the time that it was up to me to save the family… If he had caught up to me, we wouldn't be here any more…" Three people were wounded, including a soldier in serious condition.
Later in the afternoon, four soldiers were wounded - one seriously - when Arabs detonated a roadside bomb under their vehicle near Beit El, north of Ramallah. The road is closed to civilian traffic.
In other anti-Israel violence, a terrorist armed with a rifle, ammunition, and grenades swam ashore in northern Gaza early yesterday morning, but was killed within a few hundred meters of the community of Dugit by alert IDF soldiers. Around 12 hours later, at the other end of the country, Hizbullah terrorists opened fire at Israeli jets from the Lebanese side of Israel's northern border; no one was hurt.