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JERUSALEM (AA) – Two Israelis were killed and two others wounded in a drive-by shooting near the West Bank city of Ramallah on Thursday, according to the Israeli military.
In a statement, the army said a Palestinian gunman opened fire on a bus carrying Israelis at Asaf Junction, north of Jerusalem.
The army said it has launched a manhunt for the attacker, who fled the scene unscathed.
Local residents earlier told Anadolu Agency that two Palestinians opened fire on settlers from their moving car.
There was no claim of responsibility for the attack.
Following the attack, the Israeli army closed all entrances to Ramallah, and ordered forces to remain on standby.
Media reports also said settlers had attacked Palestinian vehicles and houses in Netin village, east of Ramallah, in the wake of the attack.
The Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority, for its part, blamed the Israeli policy of daily incursions into Palestinian areas and the peace deadlock for the violence.
“The climate created by the policy of repeated incursions into the cities, incitement against the President and the absence of a horizon for peace are what led to this rejected surge in violence,” it said in a statement.
“Our constant policy is to reject violence, incursions and settlers’ terror and that incitement should stop and not to create an atmosphere that contributes to the aggravation of the situation,” it added.
Thursday’s attack came hours after three Palestinians were martyred by Israeli forces for their alleged involvement in shooting attacks in the West Bank, in which two Israelis were killed and nine others injured.
- Israeli rage
Israeli Culture and Sports Minister Miri Regev called for assassinating leaders of Palestinian group Hamas.
“Only if we shake the snake’s head and personally hurt Hamas leaders, this will make the leadership of this terrorist organization understand that the rules of the game are changing,” Regev said on Twitter.
Minister of Agriculture Uri Areil, for his part, threatened to resign from the government if the cabinet failed to impose security in the West Bank.
“We must act immediately and restore the checkpoints throughout Judea and Samaria [occupied West Bank,]” he said.
“We have to expel the terrorists and demolish their houses,” Uriel said.
Israeli opposition leader Tzipi Livni blamed the “erroneous” Israeli government policy for Thursday’s attack.
Former Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman also held the government responsible for the killing.
“Recent [West Bank's] attacks were the result of the [Israeli] government's weakness in the war against Hamas,” he was quoted as saying by Israeli media.
Tension has been running high in the occupied Palestinian territories since last year when U.S. President Donald Trump unilaterally recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Jerusalem remains at the heart of the Israel-Palestine conflict, with Palestinians hoping that East Jerusalem -- now occupied by Israel -- might eventually serve as the capital of a future Palestinian state.