Around 6 AM, Palestinian terrorists opened fire from very close range at an Israeli car, murdering one soldier on the spot and seriously wounding another. A doctor and a Magen David Adom medical crew that both happened to arrive on the scene from different directions administered emergency treatment. They accompanied the wounded victim to a hospital, but he died within an hour of the attack.



The names of the two victims were released shortly after noon: Warrant Officer Shlomi Belsky, 23, of Haifa, and Sgt. Sha'ul Lahav, 20, from Kibbutz Shomerat.



Security forces closed off the highway as they combed the area for the murderers. By 8:30 this morning, they had already managed to open and re-close it, after a device that appeared to contain explosives was found.



Other passengers in the targeted car said that the terrorist who approached the car did not arouse suspicion - but then removed a Kalachnikov rifle from under a blanket he was carrying and began spraying fire. He arrived on foot from the nearby Arab town of El Khader, which has since been placed under curfew.