The Israeli military is searching for a terrorist who shot and killed Tzeela Gez and injured her husband, as the Israeli couple drove to the delivery room near the small community of Bruchin, in the West Bank late on Wednesday, May 14.
Gez’s baby was delivered in hospital, Ynet reported. The infant is listed in serious but stable condition. The Rabin Medical Center’s Beilinson Hospital said its neontal unit at the Schneider Children’s Medical Center “fought all night for his life.”
The mother was pronounced dead on Thursday morning.
“I am deeply shocked by the horrific attack in Samaria, targeting a heavily pregnant woman and her husband as they were on their way to the delivery room,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated.
“This vile act precisely reflects the difference between us—those who cherish and bring life—and the despicable terrorists whose very purpose is to kill us and cut lives short,” the prime minister said.
Isaac Herzog, the Israeli president, stated that “the murder of Tzeela Gez, on her way to give birth at the hospital, is a spine-chilling, horrific act of terror that shakes us to the core.”
“At the very moment life was about to begin, life was taken in the most brutal way,” Herzog said. “My heart goes out to her grieving family and all her loved ones who are in deep shock. We’re all praying now for the baby’s health and for the recovery of her injured husband, Hananel.”
“Terror won’t break the Israeli spirit,” the Israeli president added. “We will relentlessly track down terror wherever it hides.”
The gunmen had set up an ambush and fired from a concealed position at three Israeli vehicles. Two were unharmed; one was struck.
Security forces, led by the commander of the Ephraim Brigade, launched an extensive manhunt in the area. Intelligence and ground forces are pursuing the suspected terrorist, believed to have escaped in a vehicle. The IDF has established roadblocks and imposed a closure on the nearby Palestinian village of Bruqin. Aerial surveillance units and special forces have been deployed to the area. Central Command’s General and the head of IDF operations in the West Bank are holding ongoing situational assessments at the scene.
The Magen David Adom emergency service stated around 10 p.m. that its emergency medical technicians and paramedics were treating a woman in her 30s in critical condition. They evacuated a man, variously reported to be in his 30s or 40s, in serious condition with gunshot wounds to the hospital, Magen David Adom said.
The emergency service said that the shooting took place on route 446, between Bruchin and Peduel. The area is some 10 miles east of Petah Tikva and about the same distance northeast of Ben Gurion Airport.
According to an English translation of an Arabic post on X, the Hamas terror group lauded the shooting, which it called “heroic.”
This story was updated May 15 to report that Gez had been killed.
