Car from Drive-By Shooting Set Afire by Palestinians

A car believed to have been used in the drive-by shooting near Ariel in the Shomron was set afire by Palestinians in order to destroy any evidence that might lead to the capture of the terrorists, according to The Times of Israel.

Three yeshiva students were wounded in the attack on Sunday at the Tapuach Junction outside the city, two seriously and one lightly.

According to reports, the vehicle was found in the village of Aqraba, near Shechem, not far from where the shooting occurred.

Fatah’s branch in Shechem posted a social media message urging local Palestinians to erase camera footage that could aid Israeli security forces in their manhunt.

“We call on you to get rid of the contents that were stored in the [security] cameras of your homes or your businesses today, and not to transfer any media content among yourselves,” the post said, according to Palestinian Media Watch.

Photos that had been circulated showed that the vehicle had been hit by at least two bullets, one of which shattered the back windshield and the other hit the trunk door. This appeared to match reports by IDF soldiers at the scene, who returned fire at the vehicle as it fled.

Meanwhile, The United States’ Palestinian Affairs Unit, in the Yerushalayim embassy, issued a statement on Twitter:

“We condemn the shooting attack on innocent civilians in the West Bank yesterday, as well as reported retaliatory attacks, and wish the victims a quick recovery. Terror and violence solve nothing.”

The reference to retaliatory attacks was not explained. Apparently it meant a report from the left-wing NGO Yesh Din, that Jewish extremists attacked the Palestinian village of Jalud.

Yesh Din alleged that in a “revenge pogrom,” the Jews threw rocks at Palestinians, vandalized vehicles, chased a four-year-old Palestinian boy who was in the yard of his home, and set fire to the fields around the village.

The IDF said it responded to reports of clashes Jewish locals and Palestinians near Jalud, where it found the groups throwing stones at each another, and confirmed that fires had been set in several areas.