Israeli civilian killed, another wounded in West Bank shooting

An Israeli was killed and another wounded on Sunday by Palestinian gunmen who opened fire on a main road in the occupied West Bank, Israel’s ambulance service and military said, with the armed wing of militant faction Hamas claiming responsibility.

The Israeli military said it was pursuing the suspected assailants, blocking routes and conducting searches.

Later in the day, Hamas’ al-Qassam Brigades said its West Bank-based fighters killed an Israeli soldier at point-blank range near the settlement of Mehola in the Jordan Valley and “returned to their bases safely.”

It said the operation came in retaliation for Israel’s strike on a school where displaced Palestinians were sheltering in Gaza City on Saturday, which the civil defence service said had killed at least 90 people.

The Israeli military said it had struck a Hamas and Islamic Jihad militant command post in this attack and killed 19 militants. The Hamas and Islamic groups rejected the Israeli military statement.

Violence in the West Bank, already on the rise before the war in Gaza, has escalated further, with stepped-up Israeli military raids, settler violence and Palestinian street attacks.