Palestinian kills Israeli, wounds family in West Bank attack

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) - A Palestinian gunman opened fire at a family traveling in a car in the West Bank on Friday, killing an Israeli man and wounding his wife and two teenage children.

The assault prompted the military to send hundreds of troops to the area - in the largest operation in the territory in two years - and impose a closure on the Hebron district, where most of the recent attacks have taken place.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will reduce the amount of tax revenues it collects on behalf of the Palestinians each month because some of the money was being given to families of attackers.

Earlier on Friday, police said a Palestinian woman was killed when she pulled out a knife and threatened an officer at a checkpoint near the flashpoint West Bank city of Hebron.

The violence comes a day after a Palestinian stabbed a 13-year-old Israeli girl to death as she slept in her bedroom in a West Bank settlement. That killing, carried out by a 17-year-old Palestinian high school dropout, was among the most brazen attacks so far in a nine-month wave of attacks, and it drew angry accusations and calls from Israeli leaders for the world to condemn the incident.

In Friday's attack on the family car, the wounded were evacuated to hospital and troops were searching for the Palestinian gunman who fled the scene, the military said.

Israeli media said the victim, a 40-year-old man, lost control of the car after being shot. His wife and teenage children, a boy and a girl, were wounded. Media reported that dozens of spent bullet casings littered the scene of the attack, a road south of Hebron.

Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, an Israeli military spokesman, said that following the spike in violence, a closure will be imposed on the Hebron district, limiting movement except for humanitarian cases. Lerner said over 80 Palestinian attacks have originated from the area since the current wave of violence erupted in September.

Hundreds of soldiers will enter the territory to try and prevent more attacks, Lerner said. He described it as the military's "most substantial" move since 2014, when troops entered the West Bank to find three Israeli teenagers who were abducted and killed by Palestinian gunmen.

Hebron Mayor Dawod Zatari said the Israeli troops closed the southern entrance to the city, which connects it to other cities and villages.

"This measure is meant to collectively punish our people," he said.

In the other attack on Friday, the knife-wielding Palestinian woman, later identified by Palestinian officials as 27-year-old Sarah Tarayreh, had attempted to stab an officer during a security check outside a Hebron shrine revered by Muslims and Jews.

She aroused suspicion at the checkpoint and was asked to go into a room to undergo a further security check by a female police officer, said Israeli police spokeswoman Luba Samri. At that point, the woman pulled out a knife and tried to stab a female officer, Samri said.

Another officer at the scene opened fire and killed the woman, Samri said, refusing to provide more details. Police released a photo of a knife they said the female attacker was wielding.

The incident came a day after a Palestinian from the town of Bani Naim near Hebron stabbed to death a 13-year-old Jewish girl as she slept in her bedroom in a West Bank settlement.

Tarayreh was from the same town and the same clan as Thursday's assailant, but not a close relative, said the mayor of Bani Naim, Mahmoud Manasrah. Palestinian clans in the West Bank can have thousands of members.

Over the past nine months, Palestinians have carried out dozens of stabbings, shootings and attacks using cars against civilians and security forces that killed 34 Israelis and two American tourists. Israeli troops as well as some armed civilians have killed about 200 Palestinians during this period, most said by Israeli to be attackers.

The Palestinians and Israeli rights groups have accused Israel of using excessive force at times by killing assailants who they say could have been subdued. In some cases, Palestinians were killed as they tried to flee the scene, or after they had already been stopped or wounded after carrying out an attack.

Israel says the violence is fueled by a Palestinian campaign of lies and incitement, compounded on social media sites that glorify and encourage attacks. Palestinians say it stems from frustration at nearly five decades of Israeli rule in territory they claim for a state.

Netanyahu on Friday visited the family of Hallel Yaffa Ariel, the girl stabbed to death Thursday.

"To see Hallel's room, to see the blood stains next to her bed and the books and clothes of a small child, this is shocking," he said.

In announcing the tax money withholdings, Netanyahu accused the Palestinian Authority, which runs the West Bank, of transferring funds to attackers by various laundering methods.

"The more severe the acts of terrorism, the greater the amount of funds," he said, adding that payment "to terrorists and their families constitutes incentive for murder."

The Palestinian ministry of prisoner affairs said the salaries are paid to every Palestinian prisoner and freed prisoners who spent more than five years in Israeli jails.

"The money goes to the families as social welfare, we cannot leave any family without help," said Issa Qaraqe, the minister for prisoner affairs.

Amani Sarahneh, spokeswomen of the Palestinian prisoners' club said PA pays about $11 million per month to prisoners and freed prisoners.

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Deitch reported from Jerusalem.