Policeman, two retired school counsellors identified as victims of Palestinian shooting attack
Two women in their 60s and a man in his 40s were killed in the Palestinian village of Al-Funduq, near the town of Kedumim on Monday when terrorists opened fire on a bus and several vehicles.
Israeli emergency responders at the scene of a shooting attack near Kedumim on Jan. 6, 2025. Three people were killed and eight injured when terrorists fired on a bus and other vehicles. Credit Nadav Goldstein/TPS-IL
Another eight were injured.
Israeli security forces are searching for two suspects seen in security footage taken at the scene.
Police Master Sgt. Elad Yaakov Winkelstein, 36, fired at the terrorists before being fatally shot.
A resident of the nearby community of Ein HaNatziv, Winkelstein is survived by his wife and two children. One of Winkelstein’s sons was in the car during the attack.
He will be laid to rest in Jerusalem on Monday evening.
Rachel Cohen, 73, and Aliza Raiz, 69, were both retired school counselors and residents of Kedumim.
Cohen is survived by her husband and five daughters. Reiss, who was due to celebrate her 70th birthday in the coming days, is survived by her husband and children.
Their funeral arrangements have not been announced yet.
“It was a shooting spree,” the eyewitness told TPS-IL.
“I saw a Palestinian with an M16 take out an M16 from his back window and aim it at vehicles and then I realized it was an attack,” he recalled. “And I saw the vehicles turning around and all this chaos and then I realized they were coming at me in a second and I was next in line so I started shooting at them.” The terrorists continued down the road, “looking for vehicles to shoot at.”
He added, “I am a civilian and I have my own private gun. If they had given me an M16 I think their situation would have been different.”
He criticized the government for what he called “lawlessness” on the roads.
“They are abandoning us here. It looks like a duck shooting range,” the witness said. “It hurts my heart, but it’s really this easygoing. A person comes driving down the road, takes out a weapon and starts shooting at people.”
Among the injured was the bus driver, who was listed in serious condition, two victims in moderate condition, and three others with minor injuries, all of whom were taken to the Meir Hospital in Kfar Saba.
Two women in their 70s and 80s were taken to the Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikvah with moderate injuries.
Reacting to the attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “We will reach the despicable murderers and bring them to justice, along with everyone who helped them. No one will be spared.”
Security forces launched a manhunt for the terrorists.
