Jerusalem
Mahaz News
 — 

An Israeli-American citizen was killed within the occupied West Bank as tensions within the area continued to ratchet up after a weekend of violence.

Elan Ganeles, 27, was shot useless on Monday night in what Israel’s Magen David Adom (MDA) emergency service described as a “terror attack” on a freeway between Jericho and the Dead Sea.

The assault came about on Route 90, north of the Beit Ha’Arava Junction, the MDA mentioned. The location is generally peaceable and on one of many most important routes for Israelis to go to the Dead Sea.

Ganeles was visiting Israel for a buddy’s marriage ceremony and lived within the United States, pals of his advised Mahaz News on Tuesday. His synagogue in Connecticut mentioned he can be buried in Israel on Wednesday.

Steve Charter, the supervisor of a Hebrew language program Ganeles attended, advised Mahaz News on Tuesday that Ganeles was “a really nice guy, a gentleman … the type of guy you want your daughter to date.” Charter mentioned Ganeles attended the five-month course at Kibbutz Sde Eliyahu in 2015 earlier than becoming a member of the Israeli military.

After he accomplished his military service, he returned to the United States to check at Columbia University, Charter mentioned.

“He wanted to celebrate his friend’s wedding, see his friends and go back to America,” added Michael Landau, a buddy of Ganeles from the Hebrew program. “He was on his way to see a friend when he got murdered.”

Landau mentioned Ganeles was conscious of the safety state of affairs in Israel and the West Bank however didn’t seem like frightened about it. “He lived here in the past so he understands the situation,” Landau mentioned. “He never expressed any concern about the fact that something was going on.”

The US State Department confirmed an Israeli-American citizen had been killed, and mentioned it was “extremely concerned by the events of this weekend and the continuing violence in Israel and the West Bank.”

Ganeles’s loss of life got here after a mob of Israeli settlers went on a rampage Sunday in Huwara, south of Nablus within the Israeli-occupied West Bank, killing one Palestinian, beating others with metallic bars, and stoning a Palestinian fireplace engine after burning a number of houses.

Those assaults adopted the deadly capturing of two Israeli brothers earlier on Sunday in Huwara, days after an enormous Israeli navy raid into Nablus in quest of wished militants left not less than 11 Palestinians useless.

State Department spokesman Ned Price on Monday reiterated the US’ condemnation of the killings of Israelis over the weekend and the violence by settlers in opposition to Palestinians.

“We appreciate Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu and President [Isaac] Herzog’s statements calling for a cessation of vigilante violence. We expect the Israeli government to ensure full accountability and legal prosecution of those responsible for these attacks, in addition to compensation for the lost homes and property,” Price mentioned. “These events underscore the fragility of the situation in the West Bank and the urgent need for increased cooperation to prevent further violence.”

An Israel Defense Forces official condemned Sunday’s assaults by Israeli settlers as acts of “revenge” and “terror,” and mentioned the IDF was sending three extra battalions to the realm to attempt to deescalate the state of affairs.