Four Jewish Israelis were killed when gunmen opened fire on the car they were riding in at the entrance to Kiryat Arba, nea
r Hebron.
Tuesday night's attack in the West Bank comes on the eve of the opening of peace talks in Washington between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
More than one gunman approached the car and shot the victims -- two men ages 25 and 40, and two women of about the same ages -- at point blank range, according to preliminary reports, Haaretz reported. One of the women was pregnant. The car was sprayed with dozens of bullets, according to reports.
U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley was briefing reporters on the upcoming peace talks when news of the attack came in.
"We are cognizant that there could be external events that can have an impact on the environment" at the peace talks, he said. "There may well be actors in the region who are deliberately making these kind of attacks to sabotage the process."via jta.org
Hamas has since released a statement claiming full responsibility for the attack. IDF chief of staff Gabi Ashkenazi reached the scene of the attack moments after it was discovered. "There is no doubt that we are dealing with a very severe attack. We all send our sincere condolences to the families and the entire settlement of Beit Haggai. We will continue to use all our resources to capture the terrorists responsible for committing this attack."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plane has just landed in Washington where he is expected to begin peace talks as initially planned, despite the occurrence near Hebron on Tuesday evening. It is believed that Palestinian leader Abu Mazen was meeting with Hillary Clinton when he was informed about the violent attack. As of now, no official statement has been made by him or his people.
