Israeli-Palestinian tensions: US citizen killed in West Bank as violence in the region ratchets up
Elan Ganeles, 27, was shot dead on Monday evening in what Israel’s Magen David Adom (MDA) emergency service described as a “terror attack” on a highway between Jericho and the Dead Sea.
The attack took place on Route 90, north of the Beit Ha’Arava Junction, the MDA said. The location is normally peaceful and on one of the main routes for Israelis to visit the Dead Sea.
Ganeles was named by his synagogue in the US state of Connecticut, which said he would be buried on Wednesday in Israel.
Those attacks followed the fatal shooting of two Israeli brothers earlier on Sunday in Huwara, days after a massive Israeli military raid into Nablus in search of wanted militants left at least 11 Palestinians dead.
The US State Department said it was “extremely concerned by the events of this weekend and the continuing violence in Israel and the West Bank.”
Spokesman Ned Price on Monday reiterated the US’ condemnation of the killings of Israelis over the weekend and the violence by settlers against Palestinians.
“We appreciate Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu and President [Isaac] Herzog’s statements calling for a cessation of vigilante violence. We expect the Israeli government to ensure full accountability and legal prosecution of those responsible for these attacks, in addition to compensation for the lost homes and property,” Price said. “These events underscore the fragility of the situation in the West Bank and the urgent need for increased cooperation to prevent further violence.”
An Israel Defense Forces official condemned Sunday’s attacks by Israeli settlers as acts of “revenge” and “terror,” and said the IDF was sending three additional battalions to the area to try to deescalate the situation.
