A taxi driver, a resident of Samaria, was lightly wounded in the back in a shooting attack when bullets penetrated his vehicle's rear window on Sunday morning.
The shooting occurred between Beit Furik and Elon Moreh. A bullet also penetrated the windshield of a bus at the same location.
The driver, a father of six, the youngest of whom are twins of eighteen months, described how the bus driver slowed down to protect him. "I left Elon Moreh early this morning, the same as I do every other weekday on my way to pick up students from [nearby] Tapuach, and as I was driving down the slope, passing the stone erected in memory of the Henkin family, I heard a sound from the road.
"I assumed I'd gotten a puncture, but a moment later I realized they were shooting at me. I felt a scratch on my shoulder from a bullet, I felt something, but I wasn't sure if it had entered my body. I continued driving and stepped down on the gas."
The driver added that the bus driver likely spared him from worse injury by slowing down to cover him. He also noted that in the place where the shooting occurred there are usually soldiers stationed, but this morning for some reason they were absent.
Responding to the incident, Religious Zionism head MK Bezalel Smotrich said, "Thanks to our caretaker prime minister who has resumed talks about a Palestinian state, and thanks to our failed Defense Minister who is prisoner to the Oslo concept, in the last few months we have seen a dangerous escalation in Judea and Samaria such as hasn't been seen there for many years. The Jews living there are like sitting ducks, their lives rendered forfeit.
"Gantz and Lapid are tying the hands of the IDF and refusing to authorize a broad-ranging operation that could restore security to those living under the threat of terrorism," Smotrich continued. "Very soon, with G-d's help, we will establish a government with strong national values that will protect the lives of Israeli citizens and restore security and national pride to our country."