A terror attack was carried out in several locations in central Israel on Sunday, resulting in the murder of Chief Sgt. First Class (res.) Haim Kalomiti, 55. Five others were wounded in the attack, including another IDF reservist soldier who heads the emergency response squad in Tzur Natan, one of the towns where the terrorist attacked.
Kalomiti served as a defense soldier in the Ephraim Regional Brigade’s 8881st Battalion.
Terrorist goes on killing spree throughout several towns
The incident began at Kochav Yair, near Kalkilya, and continued to a gas station in the Tzur Yigal area, where the terrorist opened fire, wounding two people. Terrorist infiltration sirens sounded in Tsur Yitshak and Tzur Natan as a result, warning residents to shelter in place.
The terrorist then continued to Tzur Yitzhak, where he shot at the town’s guard post, wounding two more civilians.
Then, as he was driving toward Tzur Natan, the terrorist shot at a vehicle, killing Chief Sgt. First Class (res.) Haim Kalomiti and wounding another reservist.
He then arrived at the entrance to the town of Selait, opened fire at the guard post, and then fled, following an exchange of fire with the town’s police chief.
At 11:03 a.m., approximately half an hour from the initial alert that a terrorist was at large in the area near Kochav Yair, Israeli security forces identified the terrorist, began a pursuit, and killed him in an open area between Tzur Natan and Tayibe.
Israel Police Commissioner Daniel “Danny” Levy said that the terrorist was an Arab Israeli man from Tayibe. Security sources confirmed to The Jerusalem Post that he was 21-year-old Omar Yassin. He was not previously known to the security establishment, though he had a criminal record.
As part of the police investigation into the attack, members of Yassin’s family were arrested and brought in for questioning.
Conflicting reports regarding the terrorist's accomplice
At a government meeting later in the day, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that police had arrested an accomplice, contradicting earlier reports of there being only one terrorist.
The Israel Police confirmed the matter on Sunday afternoon, explaining that the accomplice, a man in his 20s from Tayibe, attempted to stab the arresting officers with a glass bottle.
Israel Police found the terrorists’ car, which had an Israeli license plate, and the weapon used in the attack.
Security sources continued to scan the area for additional terrorists. The IDF has placed a broad closure on Palestinian villages in the area and is conducting raids in Tayibe.
Magen David Adom (MDA) Kfar Saba station chief and paramedic Lior Zilberberg explained that a large first responder exercise was in course at a nearby town when the report of the terror attack came through.
“We immediately stopped the exercise and left with intensive care vehicles and ambulances to the gas station in Kochav Yair, to Tzur Yitzhak, and to Tzur Natan,” Zilberberg said.
An approximately 35-year-old man was declared dead at the scene by first responders. Two people were seriously wounded in the attack, and three others were moderately wounded.
The wounded were evacuated to Meir Medical Center in Kfar Saba and Rabin Medical Center-Beilinson Campus in Petah Tikva.
Netanyahu conducted a situational assessment. Levy and IDF Central Command Chief Maj.-Gen. Avi Bluth arrived at the scene of the attack.
Separately, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir conducted an over-the-phone situational assessment with Bluth, Southern Command Chief Major-General Yaniv Asor, and Gaza Division Commander Brig.-Gen. Liron Batito. A short while later, he arrived at the scene and conducted a preliminary inquiry along with Bluth and Brig.-Gen. Kobi Heller, commander of the IDF Judea and Samaria Division, and other IDF commanders.
Ben-Gvir says Israel will enforce death penalty if terrorists are caught alive
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said in a Sunday post to X/Twitter that should the terrorists be caught alive, they “will be executed – this is the law, and we will demand its enforcement.”
“This is precisely why Otzma Yehudit enacted the Death Penalty for Terrorists Law. Jewish blood is not forfeit. Whoever murders a Jew will see the hangman’s noose,” he wrote.
The controversial death penalty for terrorists law was passed by the Knesset in March. Though the legislation has still not been implemented in the country, in May, Bluth signed an amendment to the West Bank’s security regulations, advancing the death penalty law for terrorists to go into effect.
According to the legislation, terrorists from the West Bank would receive the death penalty automatically, barring specific appeals. Terrorists in other areas would be given either capital punishment or life imprisonment.
Terror attack was a 'bloody wake-up call,' Smotrich says
“It’s time for us to face reality. A dangerous and extremist terror network is growing under our noses that wants to destroy the State of Israel,” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said in a statement on Sunday. “This morning’s heinous attack in the heart of Sharon is a bloody wake-up call to the profound change that needs to happen among Israeli Arabs.”
“Hundreds of thousands of illegal weapons, including anti-tank missiles, machine guns, and explosive devices, alongside rampant crime and nationalist extremism, are an existential threat.”
“The equation is simple,” Smotrich added. “Those who accept the state’s sovereignty will live here in peace. Those who choose the path of terror bear responsibility for their own fate.”
Hamas praised the attack and Saturday’s incident at the Efrat Junction in an afternoon statement, but did not take responsibility for either.
It claimed that the two attacks were “in response to the ongoing Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip and the continued crimes of Judaization, extrajudicial killings, settlement expansion, raids, and attacks targeting our people daily in the West Bank and Jerusalem.”
Keshet Neev contributed to this report.