Latest news with #HananelGez
New York Times
15-05-2025
- New York Times
Hamas Celebrates Death of Israeli Mother Gunned Down en Route to Deliver Baby
An Israeli woman, on the way to a hospital to give birth, was shot and killed in the West Bank on Wednesday in an attack applauded by Hamas as a 'heroic operation.' The woman's baby, a boy, survived after being delivered in an emergency cesarean section, Israeli health officials said, and remains in 'serious but stable' condition. No Palestinian militant group took immediate responsibility for the attack, but a Hamas spokesman praised the shooting in a statement. Israeli officials described it as an act of terrorism and said they had started a search for the killer. The shooting came amid heightened violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where 500,000 Israelis live in settlements alongside about three million Palestinians. In recent months, Israeli forces have sharply escalated raids targeting militant groups in some Palestinian cities. In the process, hundreds of Palestinians have been killed, and tens of thousands have been displaced. The recent fighting has further exacerbated long-simmering tensions between Jewish settlers and Palestinians in the West Bank. The slain woman, Tzeela Gez, 30, a therapist and mother of three other children, set out from her home in the Israeli settlement of Bruchin on Wednesday night, ready to deliver. As she and her husband drove to the hospital, a Palestinian gunman opened fire on their car, according to the Israeli military. Ms. Gez was fatally wounded. Her husband, Hananel, who was driving, was injured. Still conscious when paramedics arrived at the scene, Mr. Gez told them that his wife was about to give birth, according to Dr. Asnat Walfisch, the director of the women's hospital at Beilinson Hospital in central Israel. Ms. Gez arrived in the operating room of Beilinson Hospital about half an hour after the shooting, Dr. Walfisch said, and less than 60 seconds later, doctors had sliced open her abdomen and removed the child. 'The emergency removal of the child improves the chances of survival for both patients — for the woman as well as for the child,' said Dr. Walfisch. The child was in the neonatal intensive care unit at an affiliated pediatric hospital, the Schneider Children's Medical Center. Hamas, the Palestinian armed group that is fighting Israel in Gaza, praised Ms. Gez's shooting as a 'heroic operation' that 'proves there will be no security for the Zionist pillager on our land.' The group did not say whether one of its fighters was responsible. Israel occupied the West Bank in the Arab-Israeli war of 1967, along with Gaza and East Jerusalem, all territories the Palestinians seek for a future state. About 500,000 Israelis now live in West Bank settlements, which much of the world considers illegal. Following Ms. Gez's killing, the Israeli military said it had locked down Palestinian villages near the intersection where the attack took place. After the attack, far-right Israeli politicians called for even more intense action against Palestinian militants in the West Bank. Bezalel Smotrich, a hard-line minister and settler leader, issued a call to 'flatten the nests of terror' in the West Bank.
Telegraph
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Pregnant Israeli woman shot dead in West Bank on way to give birth
A pregnant Israeli woman was shot dead by a Palestinian gunman on the way to deliver her baby. The Israeli military has launched a manhunt for the attacker, who opened fire on vehicles outside the Israeli Bruchin Settlement, south west of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, on Wednesday night. Tzeela Gez, 30, already a mother of three, was rushed to hospital near Tel Aviv following the shooting, where doctors performed an emergency caesarean section. She died but the baby survived and is said to be in a serious condition. The victim's husband, Hananel, who was driving the car, was lightly wounded. Some Israeli politicians called for the assailant's village to be flattened in response. The military dispatched troops and a drone to the area and has reportedly encircled and blocked entrances to the nearby Palestinian town of Bruqin. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said he was 'deeply shocked by the horrific attack against a pregnant woman and her husband while they were making their way to the delivery room'. 'This despicable event reflects exactly the difference between us – those who cherish and bring life – and the despicable terrorists whose life's goal is to kill us and cut off lives.' Israel Katz, the defence minister, said he ordered the military to 'identify the origin of the attackers and respond with maximum force'. No armed group immediately claimed responsibility for the murder, although Hamas praised the attack as 'heroic'. Gez's death is the latest in a surge in violence in the West Bank since the Oct 7 attacks in 2023. Israeli security forces have arrested approximately 6,000 Palestinians across the territory since the massacre in southern Israel, including more than 2,350 with alleged affiliations to Hamas. Fifty-two people, including security personnel, have been killed in incidents described as terror events in Israel and the West Bank since the atrocity. The Palestinian Authority says that more than 950 Palestinians have been killed in that time. There has also been a significant increase in violence from Israeli settlers on Palestinians since the start of the war in Gaza. Reliable data is difficult to obtain, partly because, according to the alleged Palestinian victims, police make it difficult for them to record complaints. But there has been a well documented increase, particularly in the last six months. Bezalel Smotrich, Israel's ultra-nationalist finance minister, who comes from a West Bank settlement, called for the assailant's village to be destroyed. 'Just as we are flattening Rafah, Khan Younis and Gaza, we have to flatten the terror hubs of Judea and Samaria,' he said. His comments followed what appeared to be a continued escalation of air strikes in northern Gaza. The Strip's health ministry, which is controlled by Hamas, claimed 82 had been killed on Thursday. Other reports said 54 had been killed in overnight air strikes in the southern city of Khan Younis. The figures are impossible to verify independently and no foreign media is allowed inside the territory. The Israeli military has issued a number of evacuation orders in Gaza in recent days ahead of strikes aimed at eliminating Hamas rocket units and other terrorists.
