Israeli security forces inspect the scene of a shooting attack near the West Bank Jewish settlement of Tekoa, Sunday, July 16, 2023. AP
The bloodshed was the latest in a relentless cycle of violence that has gripped the region, driving up the death toll and sparking the worst fighting between Israel and the Palestinians in the West Bank in nearly two decades.
The Israeli occupation military said forces were on the lookout for the assailant.
Fighting between Israel and the Palestinians in the West Bank intensified early last year when Israel launched near-nightly raids into Palestinian-occupied areas in the West Bank.
Twelve Palestinians were killed last week in a large-scale Israeli raid on Jenin, the largest in years by Israeli o ccupation forces.
The raid on the camp employed hundreds of troops as well as drone strikes and army bulldozers that tore up streets and damaged scores of houses. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, clearly angered by the impact of the two-day Israeli attack on the Jenin refugee camp, said the operation had left over 100 civilians injured, forced thousands to flee, damaged schools and hospitals and disrupted water and electricity networks.
At least 190 Palestinians, and 26 Israelis, have been killed this year, according to an AFP tally compiled from official sources from both sides.
The Palestinians see the violence as a natural response to 56 years of occupation, including stepped-up settlement construction by Israel’s government and increased violence by Israeli settlers.
Israel occupied the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war, along with the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem. Palestinians seek those territories for their independent state.
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