Four Israelis have been shot dead and another four injured by Palestinian gunmen at a service station in the occupied West Bank.
The two gunmen opened fire at the site, located on a main road near to the Jewish settlement of Eli, on Tuesday.
One of the gunmen was shot dead at the scene by a passer-by, while another fled and was later killed in a confrontation with Israeli forces in the town of Tubas.
Israel’s military said the shooters were “Hamas-affiliated terrorists”, with the militant Islamist group later claiming responsibility for the attack.
A spokesperson for the group said the shooting was a “heroic” response to the deaths of six Palestinians killed by Israeli forces during a raid in the West Bank city of Jenin on Monday.
One of those who died in Tuesday’s raid was a 15-year-old boy.
More than 90 Palestinians were also injured in that raid, which Israel’s military said was launched to detain suspects it claimed were responsible for attacks on Israelis.
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Seven members of the paramilitary border police and army suffered light and moderate wounds in the fighting, a military spokesperson added.
Hamas warned Tuesday’s shooting could be followed by more actions against Israelis “that will shatter their fragile state and turn the lives of their soldiers and settlers into a nightmare”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in response to the attack that his government would “continue to fight terrorism with all our might and we will defeat it.”
He later convened a meeting of security chiefs.
US Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides condemned the Eli attack and said he was “deeply concerned about the civilian deaths and injuries that have occurred in the West Bank these past 48 hours, including that of minors.”
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The West Bank – which has been under Israeli military occupation since 1967 – has faced a year of near-daily violence amid rising tensions in the region.
Israel has been staging raids in the West Bank, while attacks by Palestinian militants against Israelis have surged.
Up to 120 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank so far this year, while at least 20 people have been killed in Palestinian attacks against Israelis during the same period.
