Injured Jewish settler gives birth after attack

A West Bank Jewish settler gave birth today, hours after she was widowed when Palestinian gunmen shot at the car she and her husband were travelling in.

Limor Har-Melech, 24, was seriously injured when the car rolled over near Ramallah. Her husband Shalom died instantly.

With doctors concerned the foetus could be harmed, she later gave birth by Caesarean section to a healthy daughter, hospital officials said.

Surgeons then operated on her injuries.

Palestinian gunmen have repeatedly targeted Jewish settlers driving in the West Bank and the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for today’s attack.

Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said the incident showed that “the Palestinians even now are not willing to do anything to put an end to the terrorism here in our region.”

Israeli soldiers kept up their hunt for militants, smashing through the walls of houses in Nablus and uprooting orchards in the Gaza Strip apparently used to launch rockets at the Israeli city of Ashkelon.

Hours earlier, an Israeli helicopter in southern Gaza killed a Hamas fugitive driving a donkey cart, the fourth missile strike against members of the Islamic militant group in eight days.

Israel marked all Hamas members for death after 21 people were killed in an Jerusalem bus bombing earlier this month.