The Yaniv family
The Yaniv familyCourtesy of the family

The two Israelis murdered in a terrorist shooting attack in Samaria Sunday afternoon have been identified as brothers from the town of Har Bracha, near Shechem (Nablus).

Twenty-two-year-old Hallel Menachem Yaniv and his brother, 20-year-old Yagel Yaakov Yaniv, were shot and killed while driving through the Arab village of Huwara on Route 60, the primary north-south traffic artery in Judea and Samaria.

The two were hesder (pre-army) yeshiva students, and were killed while driving back to their yeshivas from their home in Har Bracha.

Hallel, a student in Kiryat Shemona in northern Israel, had recently completed his military service in the Israeli navy, and was set to resume his yeshiva studies.

Yagel Yaakov, a student at the Givat Olga hesder yeshiva, had been helping his yeshiva open up a branch in Tirat HaCarmel, and was set to begin his pre-induction process ahead of his formal draft into the army.

No details have yet been released regarding the timing of the brothers’ funerals.

According to eyewitnesses, including Beit El Mayor Shai Alon, the terrorist responsible for the attack approached the brothers’ car and opened fire at them with a handgun at point-blank range.

The terrorist fired 10 to 15 rounds, then fled the scene.

IDF forces were quickly dispatched to Huwara, and are currently searching for the terrorist.

"Unfortunately, this is a very serious incident, the government must change the paradigm and move from defense to offense, it cannot be that in the middle of the day, terrorists are free to shoot innocent civilians,” said Samaria Regional Council chairman Yossi Dagan.

"The ferocity of terrorism proves that there is no deterrence. The instructions for opening fire must be changed, the checkpoints must be returned, and the terrorist infrastructure of the Palestinian Authority must be proactively degraded. The people of Israel and the residents of Samaria are strong, we will not break in the face of the murderous terrorism of the Palestinian Authority.”