Residents of the "Mevaser Shalom" hilltop community, located near the community of Evyatar in Samaria, came under live fire on Friday during a routine security patrol around the area.
The gunfire was opened by terrorists from the nearby Arab village of Beita, who had positioned themselves close to the hill.
One of the bullets struck just a few meters away from the group of residents, narrowly missing them. The residents immediately alerted security forces.
IDF troops later conducted searches in the area and found approximately 15 shell casings at the location from which the shots were fired.
During Shabbat (Sabbath), the IDF blocked several roads in nearby villages and launched a manhunt for the shooters.
Surveillance footage from a nearby chicken coop shows the residents during the patrol, scanning the area with flashlights when suddenly shots are fired in their direction. The residents are seen fleeing in a crouched run, as one bullet hits a tin wall just meters away.
“They fired at us at least 15 individual shots. Miraculously, we were not hurt, but the terrorists intended to murder, and definitely were not firing random gunshots,” one of the residents said.
“I sincerely hope the IDF treats this incident based on the terrorists' murderous intentions, not based on the outcome. There is a cell here which is a ticking time bomb. If the IDF does not do the minimum of imposing a closure on the village, we could quickly find ourselves in another deadly attack like the Tze'ela Gez incident.”