Two wounded in shooting near Tapuah

High terror alert alternatively raised, lowered in J'lem throughout the day.

By ETGAR LEFKOVITS, JPOST STAFF
Two Israelis, a man and wife, were wounded on Thursday when a Palestinian opened fire on their vehicle, while the couple was driving on the road between the Tapuah junction and Migdalim. The victims, a man and wife managed to continue driving until they reached safety at an IDF base. They were then rushed to the Rabin Medical Center to receive medical treatment. The man was listed in moderate to serious condition and his wife was reported in mild condition. Al Aksa Martyrs' Brigades took responsibility for the attack. The IDF shut down the road and launched a search after the attackers. Earlier in the day, the Jerusalem police lifted a red alert that was in place for five tense hours. The on-again off-again terror alert, which had been lifted earlier in the afternoon only to be quickly reinstated, was officially cancelled just before 5 p.m. Throughout the afternoon, police carried out spot checks on vehicles and conducted increased searches at security checkpoints on the outskirts of the city, causing major traffic delays. Magen David Adom rescue services had also gone on the highest state of alert. Police periodically issue red alerts in the wake of an amalgamation of intelligence warnings indicating an impending Palestinian terror attack. It was not immediately clear Thursday if a would-be bomber had been caught. The last Palestinian suicide bombing took place on April 17 in Tel Aviv. Eleven people were killed in the Passover attack, including a 16-year-old American teen who succumbed to his critical wounds on Sunday. Also Thursday, despite a recent intensification of IDF responses to Kassam attacks, including targeted killings, the Islamic Jihad claimed to have launched seven rockets into Israel, though the IDF could only confirm six of those. The IDF said that one of the rockets landed near an IDF base, two landed in open fields north of the Gaza Strip and at least two landed within Palestinian territories. No one was wounded and no damage was reported. The IDF responded with artillery fire on the northern Gaza Strip.