Posted on 05/15/25
| News Source: JPost
A pregnant woman wounded in a terror attack in Yehuda/Shomron on Wednesday night has since passed away from her injuries on Thursday morning.
The victim was later identified as 30-year-old Tzeela Gez, a'h, Hyd, who was on her way to deliver her fourth child.
Later on Thursday, the IDF said that authorities now believe that a single terrorist conducted the attack in a sniper ambush from the side of the road. It was previously thought that the terrorist opened fire from a passing vehicle, initially at three cars, and one of them was hit, injuring the two civilians inside, near Pedu'el junction.
The incident is still being investigated; however, according to initial findings, at 9:56 p.m., a lookout in the area spotted a hot zone in the thermal vision near Route 446 by Bruchin. A minute later, the lookout identified the hot zone as a terrorist after he opened fire at vehicles traveling on the road. A couple of minutes after dispatching security forces to the scene, the terrorist escaped before the forces arrived. The terrorist appears to have already been familiar with the area and knew where to flee before the IDF set up roadblocks, according to the findings.
A spokesperson from Rabin Medical Center-Beilinson Campus, Petah Tikva, stated that medical teams were forced to declare Gez dead, but conducted an emergency caesarean section in an attempt to save the child. The baby was transferred to Schneider Children’s Medical Center for Israel, Petah Tikva, after the caesarean.
The baby's condition is "serious, but stable," the Post learned.
At 22:01, Magen David Adom (MDA) received a report at its 101 emergency dispatch center about a woman wounded by gunfire on Route 446.
The IDF sealed off Bruchin, where Gez lived. IDF Chief of Staff, Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir held an initial investigation at the scene, along with Central Command chief Maj.-Gen. Avi Bluth and Judea and Samaria Division Commander Brig.-Gen. Yaakov (Yaki) Dolf, before dispatching the Israel Air Force and Special Forces.
Zamir directed soldiers to continue the encirclement, curfew, and hunt for the terrorists, along with continuing intense counterterrorism activities in the sector, the military added.
Rabin Medical Center-Beilinson Campus, Petah Tikva, downgraded the condition of Gez's husband, Hananel, 40, who was injured in the same attack from critical to mild, and he was later released from the hospital on Thursday morning.
Gez, in October 2024, wrote on her personal Facebook page that we are living in an "uncertain period with a feeling that nowhere is safe, and yet, we continue to go out to work and live."
"What helps you get out of the house?" she asked.