Five Israelis were murdered and dozens were wounded - ten in moderate condition - in a grave series of three terrorist attacks this morning and early afternoon. The attacks took place on the Jordan Valley highway, where a driver and his teacher-passenger were murdered; in Nahariya, where a suicide terrorist blew himself up, killing three; and at the Beit Lid Junction east of Netanya, wounding one person moderately.
The morning began with a drive-by murder in the Jordan Valley at around 8 AM. Palestinian terrorists in a car overtook a van transporting teachers from Beit She\'an southwards to a regional school and opened fire with automatic weapons. One teacher - Sima Franko, 24, of Beit She\'an - was killed on the spot, and the driver, Kobi Hatzav, died later of his wounds. A second teacher was moderately wounded, and two others sustained light wounds. The attack occurred about 500 meters north of the Adam Bridge Junction. Sima Franko was buried this afternoon in Beit She\'an, and driver Kobi Hatzav will be laid to rest tomorrow in Kibbutz Alonim, southeast of Haifa.
Jordan Valley Regional Council head David Levy explained that the teachers\' van is not bulletproof, as the IDF requires such measures only for school buses. Municipality officials added that in any event they could not afford to bulletproof all official vehicles.
At approximately 10:45 AM, a large blast shook the area near the train station in the northern coastal city of Nahariya. Three people were killed in the suicide attack, and 74 others - including 20 soldiers - were injured; eight of them are listed in moderate condition. The bomb included a large amount of nails, which in fact fulfilled the murderers\' intentions of increasing the intensity of the wounds and suffering. Elro\'i Abuhatzeira, a student of the nearby Yeshivat Hesder Nehardeah and an eyewitness to the attack, told Arutz-7 in a broken voice that he is \"Thank G-d fine, saved by a miracle.\" He recounted the seconds before the blast:
\"I had just walked out of the train station when I happened to see a man - short, with a beard - holding a large package. I was standing only about five meters away from him, and suddenly I heard a tremendous explosion... I looked down and saw that my hands were bleeding; someone helped me bandage them up... It was hard for me to believe when they told me that three people were killed, and yet I had been so close and nothing happened to me...\"
Police are searching throughout the Galilee for suspects in the suicide attack, under the strong assumption that the suicide killer may have come from a village in the area. If these suspicions turn out to be true, this would be the first case of an Israeli-Arab suicide killer.
The morning began with a drive-by murder in the Jordan Valley at around 8 AM. Palestinian terrorists in a car overtook a van transporting teachers from Beit She\'an southwards to a regional school and opened fire with automatic weapons. One teacher - Sima Franko, 24, of Beit She\'an - was killed on the spot, and the driver, Kobi Hatzav, died later of his wounds. A second teacher was moderately wounded, and two others sustained light wounds. The attack occurred about 500 meters north of the Adam Bridge Junction. Sima Franko was buried this afternoon in Beit She\'an, and driver Kobi Hatzav will be laid to rest tomorrow in Kibbutz Alonim, southeast of Haifa.
Jordan Valley Regional Council head David Levy explained that the teachers\' van is not bulletproof, as the IDF requires such measures only for school buses. Municipality officials added that in any event they could not afford to bulletproof all official vehicles.
At approximately 10:45 AM, a large blast shook the area near the train station in the northern coastal city of Nahariya. Three people were killed in the suicide attack, and 74 others - including 20 soldiers - were injured; eight of them are listed in moderate condition. The bomb included a large amount of nails, which in fact fulfilled the murderers\' intentions of increasing the intensity of the wounds and suffering. Elro\'i Abuhatzeira, a student of the nearby Yeshivat Hesder Nehardeah and an eyewitness to the attack, told Arutz-7 in a broken voice that he is \"Thank G-d fine, saved by a miracle.\" He recounted the seconds before the blast:
\"I had just walked out of the train station when I happened to see a man - short, with a beard - holding a large package. I was standing only about five meters away from him, and suddenly I heard a tremendous explosion... I looked down and saw that my hands were bleeding; someone helped me bandage them up... It was hard for me to believe when they told me that three people were killed, and yet I had been so close and nothing happened to me...\"
Police are searching throughout the Galilee for suspects in the suicide attack, under the strong assumption that the suicide killer may have come from a village in the area. If these suspicions turn out to be true, this would be the first case of an Israeli-Arab suicide killer.