One person was killed, and at least five other people were wounded in an ongoing terror attack in the Sharon region on Sunday morning.
The incident began at Kochav Yair, near Kalkilya, and continued on past Tsur Yitshak, Tzur Natan, and Selait. Terrorist infiltration sirens sounded in Tsur Yitshak and Tzur Natan as a result, warning residents to shelter in place.
Israel Police killed one of the terrorists, identified as an Israeli Arab from Tayibe, and are conducting a manhunt alongside the IDF for the second. A Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) special unit has also been dispatched.
Israel Police said that it had found the terrorists' car, which had an Israeli license plate, and the weapon used in the attack.
Security sources continue to scan the area for additional terrorists. Additionally, the IDF has placed a broad closure on Palestinian villages in the area, and is conducting raids in Tayibe.
Magen David Adom Kfar Saba station chief and paramedic Lior Zilberberg explained that there was a large first responder exercise happening at a nearby town when the report of the terror attack came through.
"We immediately stopped the exercise and left with intensive care vehicles and ambulances to the gas station in Kochav Yair, to Tzur Yitzhak, and to Tzur Natan," Zilberberg said.
An approximately 35-year-old man was declared dead at the scene by first responders. Two people were seriously wounded and three others moderately wounded in the attack.
All five of the wounded were evacuated to Meir Medical Center in Kfar Saba and Rabin Medical Center-Beilinson Campus in Petah Tikva.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu conducted a situational assessment. Police Commissioner Danny Levy and IDF Central Command chief Maj.-Gen. Avi Bluth arrived at the scene of the attack.
Separately, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir is conducting an over-the-phone situational assessment with Bluth, Southern Command chief Major General Yaniv Asor, and Gaza Division Commander Brig.-Gen. Liron Battito.
Ben-Gvir says Israel will enforce death penalty if terrorists are caught alive
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said in a Sunday post to X/Twitter that should the terrorists be caught alive, they "will be executed - this is the law, and we will demand its enforcement."
"This is precisely why Otzma Yehudit enacted the 'Death Penalty for Terrorists' Law. Jewish blood is not forfeit. Whoever murders a Jew will see the hangman's noose," he wrote.
"It's time for us to face reality. A dangerous and extremist terror network is growing under our noses that wants to destroy the State of Israel," Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said in a Sunday statement. "This morning's heinous attack in the heart of Sharon is a bloody wake-up call to the profound change that needs to happen among Israeli Arabs."
"Hundreds of thousands of illegal weapons, including anti-tank missiles, machine guns, and explosive devices, alongside rampant crime and nationalist extremism, are an existential threat."
"The equation is simple," Smotrich added. "Those who accept the state's sovereignty will live here in peace. Those who choose the path of terror bear responsibility for their own fate."
Hamas praised the attack and Saturday's incident at the Efrat Junction in an afternoon statement, but did not take responsibility for either.
It claimed that the two come "in response to the ongoing Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip and the continued crimes of Judaization, extrajudicial killings, settlement expansion, raids, and attacks targeting our people daily in the West Bank and Jerusalem."