One killed, five injured in shootings near West Bank in Israel

A series of shootings near the occupied West Bank sent police, soldiers and emergency crews racing across three communities in central Israel, leaving a 35-year-old man dead and five others wounded, including two in serious condition. Magen David Adom said the wounded were rushed for treatment after the violence hit Kochav Yair, Tzur Yitzhak and Tzur Natan, all close to the Palestinian city of Qalqilya.

Israeli police said the suspected gunman was "neutralized" as large forces remained at the scene and searched the area. Officers also located the suspected vehicle used in the attack, and a police spokesperson said the shooter was an Israeli Arab from Tayibe. Israeli soldiers were deployed to one of the sites and to a nearby settlement in the West Bank, signaling how quickly the shooting pushed the response beyond a local police operation.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was briefed on the attack, which Israeli authorities described as a terrorist attack. The political reaction was immediate. Bezalel Smotrich, the far-right finance minister, called for a "profound change" among Israel's Arab community, describing it as a "dangerous and extremist breeding ground for terrorism." His comments reflected the pressure now building on Israeli leaders to answer the attack with more than an arrest and a search, as public anger rises and security demands harden.

Hamas praised the assault but did not claim responsibility, leaving Israeli officials to treat the shooting as part of a broader climate of violence without a clear organizational claim. The combination of a dead civilian, seriously wounded victims and a suspect described as coming from inside Israel sharpened the political stakes, especially in communities along the seam between central Israel and the West Bank.

The attack also highlighted the risk of wider fallout. With police forces still combing the area and soldiers deployed near the border-adjacent settlements, the immediate aftermath pointed toward tighter security, more intense scrutiny of Arab-Israeli tensions and added pressure for retaliation in a region already on edge.