Four shot dead near West Bank settlement

Four people were shot dead Tuesday near a settlement in the occupied West Bank, Israeli officials said, a day after an army raid left six Palestinians dead.

Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency services announced “four confirmed deceased” by its medics, while four others were wounded.

An MDA spokesperson was not immediately able to confirm the nationalities of those killed when contacted by AFP, while the identity of the assailants was not immediately known.

The Israeli military said “a civilian in the area neutralized one of the terrorists” — without giving further details on their condition — and troops had launched a manhunt for other suspects.

The office of Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said security officials will meet at 6:00 pm (1500 GMT).

The shooting comes a day after Israeli forces launched a raid in the West Bank city of Jenin, in which six Palestinians were killed.

A spokesman for the Palestinian militant group Hamas, Hazem Qassem, described Tuesday’s shooting at a petrol station as a “response to the crimes of the (Israeli) occupation” in Jenin and elsewhere.

The sixth Jenin fatality, Amjad Aref Jaas, died Tuesday “from critical wounds to the abdomen sustained from live occupation (Israeli) fire”, a Palestinian health ministry statement said.

More than 90 Palestinians were wounded in the hours-long raid, according to health officials, while the Israeli military said eight security personnel were wounded.

Jaas’s body was shrouded in a Palestinian flag in a Jenin mosque, before dozens of mourners including masked gunmen gathered for his funeral.

– Israeli forces kill Palestinian –

After the firefight between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants ended on Monday, the Palestinian health ministry announced Israeli troops killed a 20-year-old near the West Bank city of Bethlehem.

Zakaria Mohammed al-Zaoul was “martyred by live occupation (Israeli) bullets to the head, in the town of Husan”, the ministry said.

The Israeli military said troops were “on routine activity” in the town when “a suspect hurled Molotov cocktails” at them.

“The soldiers responded with live fire. A hit was identified,” it added.

In a statement, the militant group Islamic Jihad claimed Zaoul as a member.

The official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported the military used live fire, tear gas and stun grenades during the clashes with young Palestinians.

The deaths are the latest in a surge of violence linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which before Tuesday’s shooting had killed at least 166 Palestinians, 21 Israelis, a Ukrainian and an Italian this year.

The tally compiled from official sources includes combatants as well as civilians and, on the Israeli side, three members of the Arab minority.