Security forces on Friday arrested five Palestinians suspected of involvement in the killing overnight of an Israeli man in the northern Jordan Valley region.
The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) was holding the suspects for questioning, the IDF confirmed.
In a tragic coincidence, IDF reserve colonel Shariyah Ofer was killed forty years to the day of his brother's death, Army Radio reported.
Combat pilot Yitzhak Ofer was killed on October 11, 1973 when his aircraft was shot down over the Golan Heights during the Yom Kippur War.
Sariya was killed overnight Thursday and his girlfriend wounded in an attack outside their home in Brosh Habika.
According Sariya's partner, Monique Omer, the couple, both in their 50's, heard noises outside their home, located near edge of the eastern West Bank.
Upon leaving the house to investigate, the man was attacked and killed by what the woman said were two Palestinians wielding an ax and iron bars.
The attackers reportedly tried to grab the woman as she fled from the scene and stopped a passing car on Route 90 to call security forces, Israel Radio reported.
IDF troops arrived to the scene and conducted sweeps in the area.
MDA spokesman Zaki Heller said paramedics in the Jordan Valley responded to an initial call about a serious assault just before 1 a.m. on Friday morning, and located a woman in her 50s suffering light injuries to her limbs, before evacuating her to the Ha'amek Medical Center in Afula.
At the same time, IDF medics were attempting to revive the mortally injured man.
Yisrael Sela, a senior Magen David Adom medic, said that the woman was in a state of distress when she was found by paramedics in a car that stopped to provide her with assistance.
"She said she managed to escape and that she was injured while fleeing," Sela said. "IDF medics entered the home to treat the man," he added.
The attack could not be immediately confirmed as an act of terror and motivations for the attack were under investigation.
The attack follows a string of violent incidents over the last month involving Israeli citizens. In September, two IDF soldiers were killed in the West Bank and a nine-year-old girl was injured Saturday in front of her home in the West Bank settlement of Psagot.
Former IDF Central Command chief Gadi Shamni recently expressed his fears that in light of the past month's attacks in the West Bank, a new intifada could be in the works.
"The events of the past month may lead to an escalation in the West Bank," Shamni told Army Radio in an interview nearly a week ago.
"It's very difficult to determine if this is the start of an intifada," he continued.