The police at Herzyla were in a state of alert after the auto that drove through the roadblock near Jerusalem was found abandoned after the driver, suspected of planning an attack, fled on foot.
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Graffiti left at the site, witness reports and the proximity of Israeli settlements led suspicions to fall immediately on Jewish extremists.
Baha Elayyan opened fire on passengers on a bus, killing three people.
The so-called “price tag” attacks seek to exact a cost for Israeli steps seen as favoring the Palestinians. On the same day, another attacker, Alaa Abu Jamal, rammed his vehicle into pedestrians and then stabbed people, killing one, according to AP.
Meanwhile, an Israeli woman soldier was shot and slightly wounded in the flashpoint West Bank city of Hebron on Sunday, rescue services said. His mother, Riham, and father, Saad, later died of their wounds.
The attack in Duma village and ensuing, secretive Israeli investigation also laid bare fissures in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government, where one ultra-nationalist partner voiced misgivings at the handling of Jewish suspects.
The controversial practice is widely used in the West Bank and resumed in east Jerusalem in November after a five-year hiatus.
Israel claims home demolitions such as Monday’s operation are an effective tool to deter attacks.
Palestinians cite the Duma incident as a factor in the three-month wave of attacks and clashes roiling the region, saying they are frustrated by years of unchecked settler violence.
On Friday, the Israeli authorities handed over the bodies of 23 slain Palestinians from the occupied West Bank to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
A 17-year-old, who remained unnamed under a gag order, was charged with being an accessory to committing a racially motivated murder.
Israeli officials said their investigation into the attacks by far-right Jews were hampered by the suspects’ operating in small tight-knit cells and eluding electronic surveillance.
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According to Israeli watchdog Military Court Watch, there were 407 Palestinian children in Israeli custody at the end of November.
