August 2010 West Bank Shooting Attack

The attack took place on the eve of the relaunch of direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations in Washington, which were scheduled to open on September 2, 2010.[1] In the period leading up to those talks, an Israeli security annual summary noted that Hamas had been actively working to restore its infrastructure in the Hebron and Yatir area of Judea and Samaria, and that 2010 saw 16 shooting attacks in the West Bank, compared with 20 the previous year.[2]

Highway 60, on which the attack occurred, is described in an Israeli government report as a central artery in the region from which checkpoints had been removed in the preceding years.[3] Military sources told reporters that there had been routine warnings about incidents along the road, but no specific warning of an attack of this kind, and that a similar incident had not taken place on that route for a considerable time.[4]

On the evening of August 31, 2010, Hamas gunmen ambushed an Israeli vehicle traveling on Highway 60 near the Bani Naim junction, southeast of Kiryat Arba in the Hebron area.[5][6] The four occupants — all civilians and residents of the nearby settlement of Beit Hagai — were killed in the attack.[7] A paramedic who responded to the scene told reporters that emergency teams arrived to find dozens of spent bullets and that the victims had sustained multiple close-range injuries; he described it as a carefully planned ambush that appeared to include a final close-range volley to confirm the kill.[4] An Air Force helicopter was dispatched but was not needed to evacuate casualties, as rescuers who attempted to resuscitate the four declared them dead at the scene.[4]

The four victims were identified as Yitzhak Ames (47), Tali Ames (45), Avishai Shindler (24), and Kochava Even-Haim (37).[8][9] Yitzhak and Tali Ames were a married couple who left behind six children, including a one-and-a-half-year-old infant; Kochava Even-Haim was survived by her husband and an eight-year-old daughter.[9] One of the women killed was pregnant.[10] The Jerusalem Post reported that eyewitnesses described the attackers first striking the passengers with gunfire from a passing vehicle, then approaching the car and shooting its occupants at close range.[11]

The Israel Defense Forces immediately set up roadblocks on routes throughout the Hebron area in an effort to catch the perpetrators.[4] A Palestinian security official initially told reporters that Hamas was believed responsible, and Hamas subsequently formally claimed the attack through its military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades.[1][12]

The Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's military wing, officially claimed responsibility for the attack.[13][1] Hamas spokesman Musheir al-Masri, a speaker for the Hamas faction in the Palestinian Legislative Council, called it an "extremely strong" response to the talks to relaunch direct negotiations, while Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum described it as a natural reaction to what he termed "Israel's crimes."[13] Hezbollah praised the attack as a "clear message" that there was no option other than resistance.[13]

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas stated that the attack was intended to impede the diplomatic process, while also affirming that the PA opposed attacks on civilians on either side.[1] Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would seek security arrangements to prevent such killings and declared that terrorism would not determine where Israelis lived or what the final borders would be.[1] The White House condemned the attack and urged both parties to continue negotiations.[1]

The Palestinian Authority mounted an immediate and large-scale security response. PA President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad condemned the attack, and PA security forces had detained 283 Hamas supporters for questioning by noon on September 1 and approximately 600 by September 3.[7] On September 2, Abbas announced that PA security forces had tracked down the vehicle used in the August 31 shooting.[7] PA officers also detained seven members of an armed Hamas cell suspected of killing Israelis in the Hebron and Ramallah shootings.[14]

By September 7, the PA announced it had arrested six men connected to two attacks: the August 31 shooting that killed four Israelis and a follow-on shooting the next day that injured a couple. According to the PA's account, the first attack involved two shooters and an accomplice, with the second cell composed similarly.[15] The Middle East Quartet condemned the attack near Hebron and called for a halt to violence and for the protection of civilians.[16]

Retaliatory skirmishes followed near several West Bank settlements, with Israeli settlers reportedly throwing stones and Molotov cocktails at Palestinian villagers.[5][14] Shas leader and Interior Minister Eli Yishai cited the shootings as evidence that Hamas would prevent the Palestinian Authority from reaching any agreement with Israel, and moved after the attack to relax firearms licensing requirements for West Bank residents; it was separately reported that Yitzhak Ames's weapons permit had been revoked a few months before his death.[17]

On October 8, 2010, Israeli forces killed Nashaath al-Karmi and Mamoun al-Natshe during an operation in Hebron and arrested six additional suspects. The IDF stated that the two men were Hamas operatives belonging to the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades who had been involved in the attack that killed the four residents of Beit Hagai; those arrested were transferred to Shin Bet custody for interrogation.[11] Israeli authorities also suspected Iyad As'ad Abu Shelbaya — known for reported links to Hamas — of having participated in the attack. On September 17, Israeli security personnel shot and killed Abu Shelbaya in his home in the Nur ash-Shams refugee camp; the State Department described him as a suspect, noting that his participation had not been established through trial.[5]

Interpretations of the attack's purpose differed. The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center assessed that its objective was to disrupt the relaunch of direct negotiations in Washington.[13] Analyst Ehud Yaari wrote that the August 31 and September 1–2 shootings showed Hamas making a full effort to resume attacks in the West Bank. He described Hamas's strategic calculation as using successful attacks to increase strain between Israel and the Palestinian Authority and cast a shadow over negotiations.[18]

At the same time, Yaari noted that Hamas communiqués issued after the shootings emphasized that the attacks were not intended to derail the talks, but reflected the movement's traditional resistance doctrine.[18] The differing accounts distinguish outside assessments of Hamas's strategy from the movement's own public framing.

The attack is counted among sixteen shooting attacks carried out in the West Bank during 2010 and was attributed by Israeli security services to Hamas infrastructure in the Hebron and Yatir area.[2] The Congressional Research Service grouped it with a follow-on shooting the next day, recording a combined toll of four Israelis killed and two injured during the August–September 2010 period and noting that one of those killed was a pregnant mother.[10]

Nearly fifteen years after the attack, Israeli security forces made further arrests connected to the case. In June 2025, a joint Shin Bet, IDF, and Israel Police operation in Hebron dismantled a large Hamas infrastructure network, arresting more than 60 operatives over the preceding three months.[19] Among those arrested was a suspect linked to the August 31, 2010 attack.[20][21] The Shin Bet announced that investigators had solved the deadly shooting, and families of the victims said they had not previously known that additional planners were involved.[19]

The operation also revealed the scale and capabilities of the Hamas network active in Hebron in 2025. Shin Bet reported that the network recruited, armed, and trained operatives; gathered intelligence on Israeli targets; conducted shooting exercises; and manufactured explosive materials and devices. Authorities thwarted approximately ten planned attack cells, and security forces recovered 22 weapons, 11 fragmentation grenades, and an underground facility used to store weapons and shelter wanted individuals.[19]