JERUSALEM — Two Palestinian attackers opened fire Tuesday at a restaurant and gas station near an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, killing at least four people and wounding several others before being shot, authorities said, as violence roiled the occupied territory the day after a deadly Israeli military raid.
A bystander shot and disabled one of the attackers, and Israeli security forces said they shot and killed the other who had fled the shooting scene. The Hamas militant group claimed both assailants as members. Israeli media identified three victims as Israeli residents of West Bank settlements ranging in age from 18 to 64. The fourth victim was not immediately identified.
Later Tuesday, carloads of Israeli settlers, outraged by the fatal shootings, drove to the northern Palestinian towns of Hawara, Beit Furik, Burin and surrounding villages, setting dozens of cars on fire, hurling stones and trying to set homes ablaze, said Nablus official Ghassan Daghlas.
Tuesday’s violence underscored the fragility of the situation in the West Bank, where on Monday an Israeli military raid into the northern Jenin refugee camp ignited some of the fiercest Israeli-Palestinian fighting in years, killing six Palestinians and wounding scores more. Palestinian militants targeted Israeli military vehicles with roadside bombs and Israeli forces deployed helicopter gunships to evacuate stranded troops.
A surge in violence has killed 128 Palestinians and 24 people on the Israeli side this year, according to a tally by The Associated Press, prompting many on either side of the conflict to fear a possible greater conflagration.
The Israeli military said it was sending reinforcements to the West Bank and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to “settle the score with the murderers.”
Israeli military spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said the two Hamas-affiliated gunmen had driven to the shooting scene from the Palestinian village of Urif in the northern West Bank. The men first burst into a hummus restaurant next to the Israeli settlement of Eli, the Israeli military said, shooting and killing three people before heading out to the gas station and killing another person pumping gas into his car.
A civilian bystander shot one of the assailants repeatedly until he collapsed to the ground, unmoving.
Medics were later seen carrying him away in a body bag. Hamas identified him as Mohannad Faleh, 26. The second assailant fled the gas station in a stolen Toyota.
After an hourslong manhunt, Israeli security forces caught him in the West Bank town of Tubas, shooting and killing him when he tried to run out of his car. Palestinian health officials identified the man as Khaled Sabah, 24.
The Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad praised the attack as a response to Monday’s deadly military raid.
“Revolutionaries in the West Bank are striking everywhere, and specifically where (Israel) does not expect it,” said Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem, describing the shooting as a “reaction to the crimes of the occupation in the Jenin camp.”
Hours after the attack, Israeli settlers streamed through Palestinian towns, trying to torch property and smashing cars with stones. A few settlers opened fire at Palestinians who had ventured out of their homes to confront them, said Daghlas.
Dozens of Palestinians throughout the Nablus governorate were attacked and wounded by rocks, he said, including a Palestinian journalist struck in the face.
The northern town of Hawara was the scene of a deadly rampage earlier this year in which Israeli settlers set dozens of homes and cars on fire and left one Palestinian dead after a Palestinian militant attack killed two Israeli brothers.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant was convening with the country’s army chief and other top security officials to discuss a response to the shooting. Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners have ramped up pressure on the government to crack down harshly on the wave of Palestinian violence.