Terrorists from Jenin fired across the Green Line on Sunday afternoon at the Gan Ner yishuv in the Gilboa Regional Council in northern Israel, the first time the area, which is north of the Green Line, has been targeted by terrorists.

B’Chasdei Hashem, although a bullet penetrated the window and couch of a home on the yishuv, the residents were not home at the time and no one was injured. Several parked cars on the yishuv were also hit by bullets.

The incident comes a month and a half after four homes on Kibbutz Ma’ale Gilboa in northern Israel, also north of the Green Line, were hit by gunfire for the first time.

“This is the first time that a bullet fired from the Palestinian Authority has been found in Gan Ner,” said Oved Nur, the head of the Gilboa Regional Council.

Roni Hayoun, the head of the yishuv administration, said: “We’re apparently the next Gaza Envelope. We need to start thinking and planning how to prevent this. The yishuv was established 35 years ago and this is the first time we had an incident like this.”

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Chagit Levin, a neighbor of the family whose home was hit by gunfire, said: “This is very hard for us – we feel a sense of helplessness. I’ve lived here for 31 years and nothing like this has ever happened before. We always felt like our yishuv was safe – although we know we’re close to the PA. The family experienced an unbelievable neis – you come home from work and find a bullet in the tris and on the seat of the couch. If, chalilah, someone had been sitting on the couch, it would have ended in a terrible disaster. We were never scared like we are now.”

The house that was hit by the gunfire is located on the far end of the yishuv but is almost two kilometers from the security fence. However, the assessment in the defense establishment is that the shots were fired from PA territory. The Jenin Brigades, which is affiliated with Islamic Jihad, released a video with alleged footage of the shooting at Gan Ner.

Also on Sunday afternoon, terrorists opened fire on cars at the entrance of the Mevo Dotan yishuv in northern Shomron, hitting a Palestinian car that was parked near the entrance. B’Chasdei Hashem, no one was injured in the incident.

The Islamic Jihad terror organization claimed responsibility for the attack.

Later on Sunday evening, a terror attack was foiled in Binyamin when IDF soldiers identified a suspect placing an explosive device on Alon Road (Route 458). Soldiers opened fire and neutralized the terrorist. Bomb sappers were called to the scene to neutralize the device.

“Another attempted terrorist attack was just thwarted for the third time today,” a statement from the IDF said following the attack on Sunday evening. “IDF soldiers spotted a suspect attempting to place an explosive device on Alon Road. The soldiers responded with gunfire toward the suspect. A hit was identified. IDF soldiers are operating to neutralize the explosive device.

“This follows two attempted shooting attacks in the communities of Mevo Dotan and Gan Ner earlier today.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)