Shortly before the outbreak of the war against Hamas, a group of residents from Kibbutz Meirav, which is part of the Gilboa Regional Council in northern Israel, crossed the separation barrier and entered the Palestinian village of Jalbun. Their intention was to express their dissatisfaction with the shooting incidents that occurred at the kibbutz during Sukkot. Additionally, there was a separate incident in which shots were fired at another kibbutz two days prior to the Hamas massacre on October 7. Following these incidents, the situation in the area had remained calm.
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However, on Tuesday, after a period of four months, terrorists from Jalbun once again fired toward Meirav. Fortunately, no injuries were reported, but one of the houses sustained damage. In response, security forces in the vicinity immediately returned fire toward the source of the shooting. They subsequently initiated thorough searches in the area and began actively pursuing the individuals responsible for the attack.
Oren Hennig, the owner of the damaged house in Meirav, shared his family's experience. "My wife was inside the house, and my 8-year-old daughter, who is in third grade, was underneath the window that was struck. It was a potentially disastrous situation," he said.
Hennig further explained that he was en route to his reserve duty in the Gaza border region when the incident occurred. "This is the first time my house has been hit; in the past, it was the neighboring houses. It was extremely distressing and nerve-wracking to have a bullet pass over my daughter's head," he said.
residents of Meirav make their way to nearby Jalbun
Nitzan Aviran, a resident of Meirav, said residents must always be on guard. "We are not caught off guard. We experienced a period of relative calm for a few months, thanks to the tremendous efforts made by the army. However, regrettably, there are individuals on the opposing side who harbor intentions of causing harm to us. It is crucial for us to maintain a state of alertness and take action to dismantle all terrorist networks in the West Bank. It's miraculous that today's incident concluded with no casualties."