Thethird victim was seriously injured in the terrorist attack on the Route 57 highway.

By JNS

Two Israeli women were killed and a third was critically wounded on Friday in a Palestinian shooting attack in the Jordan Valley.

The attack took place on the Route 57 highway near the Hamra Junction, the Israel Defense Forces said.

According to an initial probe, terrorists opened fire on a passing vehicle, causing it to crash into the road’s shoulder. The terrorists then approached the car and riddled it with nearly two dozen bullets.

Magen David Adom emergency medical personnel pronounced two women in their 20s dead on the scene. The other victim, a woman in her 40s, was evacuated by helicopter to Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem’s Ein Kerem.

Israeli troops launched a manhunt for the terrorists.

The attack comes after an Israeli soldier was wounded on Thursday night just north of Jerusalem when Palestinian gunmen opened fire at troops near the Geva Binyamin Junction. The soldier is in stable condition in the capital’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center.

Overnight Thursday, terrorists in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip fired 44 projectiles, including rockets and anti-aircraft missiles, towards southern Israel.

In response, Israel Air Force jets hit more than 10 Hamas targets in the Palestinian enclave, including weapons manufacturing sites and attack tunnels.

The military also struck Hamas assets in southern Lebanon, after the Palestinian terrorist group fired 34 rockets from the Hezbollah-controlled country towards northern Israel earlier Thursday.