JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Thursday to catch the killers of a pregnant Israeli woman who died following an attack in the occupied West Bank the night before.
The woman and her husband were driving near the Israeli settlement of Bruchin on Wednesday when their vehicle was fired at, according to Israeli authorities.
The 37-year-old mother of three, Tzeela Gez, died from her injuries, while her baby was delivered via an emergency C-section, Beilinson Hospital near Tel Aviv said Thursday.
The victim’s husband was lightly injured, the hospital said.
The baby, treated in intensive care, was in “serious but stable” condition on Thursday morning, according to Schneider Children’s Hospital.
“We will catch the killers as we always do, we will fight them and we will defeat them,” Netanyahu said in a video released by his office later in the day.
Israeli army chief Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir had earlier said “we will use all the tools at our disposal and reach the murderers in order to hold them accountable.”
Thousands gathered for Gez’s funeral in Jerusalem’s main cemetery on Thursday evening, many visibly distraught.
“I am very proud of you, you have a heart of gold, I love you. You raised three sweet children — Lavi Nehorai and Amitai — with love, devotion and warmth. Just now we almost had another baby together,” her husband Hananel Gez said.
“I think it’s important to also say in English to the global audience — we’re the Jewish nation, the chosen nation. Those who respect us, they’ll be blessed, they’ll benefit. Those who hurt us will face tremendous suffering,” he added.
WhatsApp groups for Israeli settlers in the West Bank were rife with calls for vengeance in retaliation for the attack.
Bruchin was initially built without Israeli government approval but was later retroactively legalized by authorities.
Netanyahu had earlier said he was “deeply shocked by the horrific terrorist attack.”
“This abhorrent incident precisely reflects the difference between us, who desire and bring life, and the reprehensible terrorists, whose goal is to kill us and destroy life,” he said in a statement.
Since the beginning of the Gaza war, sparked by Palestinian militant group Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, the West Bank has seen a surge in violence.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967, and Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territory are considered illegal under international law.