WEST BANK: A Palestinian gunman has killed two Israelis in their car in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli government said.
A joint statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on Sunday said “two Israeli civilians were killed in a Palestinian terror attack” in an incident near the city of Nablus in the north of the occupied territory. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which came as Israeli and Palestinian security officials met in Jordan to discuss ways of lowering tensions.
Medics said the casualties near Hawara, an area that sees regular friction between Palestinians and settlers, were men in their 20s.
A settlements spokesperson said they were residents of Har Bracha, a settlement 8 km (5 miles) away from the scene of the attack.“Israeli security forces closed down some of the checkpoints and they are still looking for the person who carried this [attack] out,” a local news reporter said.
Sunday’s shooting attack comes amid rising tensions across the occupied West Bank following an Israeli military raid in Nablus in which 11 Palestinians were killed on Wednesday.
According to Palestinian figures, at least 65 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the start of this year. On Sunday, Israeli and Palestinian representatives were holding talks in Jordan, according to the state media in the kingdom, in a “political-security” meeting aiming to restore calm after deadly violence. –Agencies
