Rocks were thrown at cars south-east of Efrat on the road that passes next to the village of Um Salmona.

One car was lightly damaged from the stone, but no one was injured in the attack.

Samaria (TPS) – Amid the intense heat wave in Israel, the water crisis plaguing Samaria is taking an unprecedented toll as residents and community leaders scramble to find solutions for the water scarcity. To date, eight settlement communities have experienced water shortages and three have had no water at all last week.

“We’ve been saving water, not wasting a drop,” said Rachel Shalev of Elon Moreh, a community with over 1,600 people located in Samaria, northeast of Nablus. “We were told to limit the amount of water we are using. In my neighborhood there is water but there are other parts of the community where the running water isn’t working.”

“On Shabbat, at the synagogue, people were wondering if they’d have to go back to drawing water from a well.”

“Every moment that we have water, I thank God,” Shalev said. “But I’m not doing any laundry for now or taking any chances.”

In some cases, emergency water tanks as well as water bottles have been delivered at special water stations set up in settlement communities like Kedumim and Eli.

“We knew this was coming but we never expected the water issue to be this severe,” said Yisrael Ganz, deputy head of the Binyamin Regional Council to Tazpit Press Service (TPS). “We are at the height of this water crisis, which has left residents unable to maintain a normal way of life at this time.”

Arab residents of the region have been severely affected as well. Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, sent a letter to the government of Israel claiming that Mekorot, the Israeli water company, has significantly reduced the amount of water that it supplies to the region since early June 2016.

Adalah provided TPS with the text that its lawyer, Muna Haddad, wrote to Israeli authorities.

“The reduction in water amounts and pressure prevents the filling of holding reservoirs in the Palestinian communities. As a result, in some of the communities, including the villages of Salfit, Azmut, Salem and Dir Al-Hatab in the northern West Bank, water flow to residential homes has been almost completely cut for more than two weeks,” Haddad wrote.

“The cuts have also caused factory shutdowns, damage to gardens and agricultural lands, and the deaths of livestock due to dehydration. The situation, exacerbated by a period of heavy heat over the past several weeks that is expected to continue through the summer months, is causing significant harm to West Bank residents,” Haddad added.

According to Oded Revivi, the mayor of Efrat and a Yesha Council representative, the reasons for the water shortage are varied and are sometimes influenced by ideological motives. “There is no dispute that both Jews and Arabs in Judea and Samaria are suffering from a shortage of water during these hot summer days,” he commented to TPS.

“The people behind the Oslo Accords foresaw this situation and drew guidelines to prevent specifically such a crisis,” he explained. “Unfortunately, the funds of the European community dedicated to this purpose did not reach its objective.”

Revivi believes that the only way to overcome the situation at the moment is to understand that money must be invested in the proper infrastructure so that drinking water can be provided for both populations.

“At the end of the day, it is the Jews and Arabs who live in this region that need to set rules and come up with a working system that will benefit both sides so that they can live side by side in a peaceful and beneficial co-existence,” he concluded.

A huge water “shlucker” bag

UPDATE 4:40 PM The boy has been found.

Missing – The public is asked for help in locating Uri Houminer (16) from Efrat, Gush Etzion.

Uri was seen at the Tzomet HaGush (Gush Etzion junction) at 10 PM on Monday evening, getting out of a car.

UPDATE: Residents report seeing Uri a short time later in Jerusalem at the Gilo junction.

He is wearing blue jeans, a white shirt and a bordeaux sweatshirt that says “American Eagle” on it.

If you have any information on his whereabouts that might help in locating him, please call the Efrat security center at 1-700-70-5000.

Arab terrorists hurled rocks at a children’s schoolbus in Samaria, and stones and firebombs (Molotov cocktails) at Israeli drivers in Judea on Wednesday afternoon.

The first attack was recorded near the northern entrance to Efrat, where terrorists hurled rocks at drivers traveling near the Jewish community.

Efrat is located in the Gush Etzion bloc in Judea, about eight minutes south of Jerusalem. No physical injuries were reported, and none of the vehicles were damaged.

Terrorists also threw stones at drivers in at least three separate attacks on Highway 60 between the El Khader junction and the tunnels checkpoint at the entrance to Jerusalem. No physical injuries and no damage reported in any of the attacks.

In Samaria, terrorists hurled rocks at a school bus that was traveling south of the Arab village of Hizme, heading towards the checkpoint north of Jerusalem. No physical injuries were reported.

Stone-throwing attacks have cost many lives and permanently wounded even more. Attacks on moving vehicles with rocks are regarded as murder attempts under Israeli law.

The Gush Etzion community of Efrat’s rapid-response team ran a training exercise on Wednesday night.

For the exercise, this special counter-terrorism unit simulated dealing with a multiple hostage situation inside a school, following an infiltration into the town.

All the terrorists in the exercise were “killed”.

In the real world, terrorists infiltrated this week into the nearby towns of Tekoa and Otniel, wounding Michal Froman and murdering Daphna Meir.

The communities of Gush Etzion are on high alert as a result.

Tel Aviv mayor Ron Huldai visited the town of Efrat in Gush Etzion to observe how the town protects its educational centers and students.

Following the wave of Arab terror attacks in Gush Etzion, the IDF announced a series of measures it will take in order to improve the security of the citizens.  ,

The Gush Etzion junction has become one of the most popular spots for Palestinian Authority terrorists to stab, shoot and run over Jewish motorists, hitchhikers and soldiers. This central junction, located just south of Efrat, interconnects Jerusalem to Hebron, Alon Shvut, Kfar Etzion, and the communities in Western Gush Etzion. It is located adjacent to the Rami Levy shopping center.

The Gush Etzion Regional Council spokesman told The JewishPress.com that the road between the Gush Etzion Junction and Alon Shvut/Kfar Etzion will be closed to Palestinian Authority Arabs, and on Highway 60, traffic will be divided to separate PA Arab and Jewish vehicles under new IDF directives to reduce potential terror attacks.

The latest wave of terror, which follows years of dozens of murders and attempted murders of Jews in Gush Etzion, prompted the military to launch security arrangements to reduce the danger.

Previous improvements to security have proven to be short-lived, and it is not known if these new measures will be permanent.

The new steps the IDF are announcing include:

1. Separate lanes for Palestinian Authority and Israel motorists approaching the Gush Etzion junction on Highway 60 from the north (Bethlehem, Hussan, El Hadr) and south (Hebron region);

2. Prohibiting Palestinian Authority drivers from using the road that runs west from the junction to Alon Shvut and Kibbutz Kfar Etzion;

3. Separate entrance to the parking lot at the Rami Levy shopping complex, located 500 feet west of the junction; and

4. Deploying a special IDF unit at the junction.

The IDF also will deploy a special combat unit and will establish checkpoints at the exits from Hebron area villages.

The military also will take more action to arrest rock-throwers, will establish more lookout outposts on the roofs of strategically located Arab houses and will establish a second guard tower at the Gush Etzion Junction.

The plan to bar Palestinian Authority motorists from the road from the junction to Kibbutz Kfar Etzion, the same road where Hamas terrorists kidnapped and murdered three yeshiva youth two summers ago, could face a challenge in court.

Left-wing groups several years ago won their case in court against barring Arabs from Highway 443, the road that connect Jerusalem with Modi’in and which serves as an alternative to the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem Highway 1.

Palestinian Authority terrorists have since carried out several deadly attacks on Highway 443, including the stabbing death of an Israeli soldier at a gas station two days ago.

Gush Etzion Junction