NEAR RAMALLAH, West Bank — A suspected Palestinian gunman shot dead an Israeli man near a spring by the settlement of Neve Tzuf (also known as Halamish), near Ramallah, on Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026 — the eve of Yom Kippur — according to Israeli police and the military, as reported by Reuters.

Medics who arrived at the scene said they found an Israeli man in a car with critical gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead at a hospital, police said (Reuters). Reuters did not name the victim in its initial wire.

Separately, The Times of India, citing The Times of Israel, identified the dead man as Netanel Shukrun, a father of six from the West Bank settlement of Alei Zahav. That named identification is attributed to the TOI / Times of India chain; it is not treated here as a Reuters fact. TOIndia also reported Shukrun had gone to the spring with his eldest son to immerse ahead of Yom Kippur.

The gunman opened fire from his vehicle at Israelis gathered at the spring, then fled, according to the Israeli military and police (Reuters). He was arrested hours later at a hospital in Ramallah, police said (Reuters).

Separate incident (Reuters: it was not clear whether the two fatal incidents were connected): the Israeli military said its forces “eliminated” a Palestinian driver who had attempted a ramming attack on soldiers near the settlement of Ganim, further north in the West Bank. No soldiers were hurt, the military said. Reuters was not able to immediately verify the soldiers’ account — treat the ramming narrative as an IDF claim.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had instructed security agencies to beef up their forces and carry out arrests and offensive activities in the area (Reuters). The Times of India, citing Netanyahu, also reported he ordered the immediate demolition of “the terrorist” home — attributed to that secondary wire; it was unclear which of the two attackers the order referred to if both incidents are cited.

The Palestinian militant group Hamas praised the shooting attack but did not claim responsibility for it (Reuters).

West Bank violence has escalated since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel and the ensuing Israeli offensive in Gaza, Reuters noted, including settler attacks on Palestinians, sweeping Israeli raids, and Palestinian attacks on Israelis. Stick to Sunday’s confirmed death, the Ramallah-hospital arrest, the attributed IDF ramming claim near Ganim, Netanyahu’s force/arrest orders, and Hamas’ praise-without-claim. Do not invent a connection between the two incidents.

Sources