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Shooting near West Bank settlement kills at least 2 Israelis

JERUSALEM (AP) - A Palestinian gunman opened fire at a bus stop outside a West Bank settlement on Thursday, shooting at soldiers and civilians and killing at least two Israelis before fleeing, the Israeli military said.

The military said the assailant stepped out of his car and shot at the bus stop, killing two people, wounding two others, one critically, and then fleeing the scene. It said troops were searching the area for the attacker and that it was sending reinforcements. The identities of those killed and wounded were not immediately known.

The deaths extend a violent week that began with a shooting outside a West Bank settlement on Sunday, resulting in the death of a baby who was delivered prematurely following the weekend attack, and continued with the killing of two Palestinians wanted in that and another attack on Israelis in the West Bank.

While the West Bank experiences occasional deadly violence, often between Israeli troops and Palestinian protesters, much of the Israeli-Palestinian bloodshed in recent months has been limited to the Gaza Strip, where some 175 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in border protests.

The shooting occurred at a location about a ten-minute drive south from the place of Sunday's attack.

"In recent days, we definitely feel like the situation (in the West Bank) is getting worse," Shalom Galil, a paramedic who assisted at the scene of the shooting, told Israeli Army Radio.

Following the attack, Israel set up checkpoints at the entrances to the West Bank city of Ramallah, searching cars entering the city and checking drivers' IDs. Some Israeli-controlled roads were completely blocked to Palestinian traffic.

The military declined to comment on the clampdown on the city, the Palestinians' economic and administrative center, an unusual step that signaled the severity with which Israel viewed the violent flare-up.

Israel captured the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians claim the territories for their hoped-for state.

The shooting comes hours after Israeli security forces tracked down and killed a Palestinian accused of killing two Israelis.

Israeli police said Ashraf Naalweh was found armed near the West Bank city of Nablus and was killed during an arrest raid.

Israel accuses Naalweh of shooting to death two Israelis and wounding another at an attack on a West Bank industrial zone in October. He fled the scene and Israeli forces have been searching for him since.

"Israel's long arm will reach anyone who harms Israeli citizens," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

Police said it had made a number of arrests in its attempt to hunt down Naalweh and suspected he was planning on carrying out another attack.

On Wednesday, Israeli forces killed Salah Barghouti, a Palestinian suspect wanted in the drive-by shooting earlier this week at a West Bank bus stop.

In Sunday night's attack, assailants in a Palestinian vehicle opened fire at a bus stop outside a West Bank settlement, wounding seven people, including a 21-year-old pregnant woman, before speeding away.

The militant Hamas group that rules the Gaza Strip said that both Barghouti and Naalweh were its members but stopped short of claiming responsibility for the attacks the two carried out.

"The flame of resistance in the (West) Bank will remain alive until the occupation is defeated on all our land," Hamas said.

Also Thursday, police said an assailant stabbed two officers in Jerusalem's Old City, wounding them lightly. The officers opened fire on the attacker and he was killed, spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

Police identified the man as a 26-year-old Palestinian from the West Bank. It released security camera footage that shows the man lunging toward the officers and appearing to stab them.

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Associated Press writer Mohammed Daraghmeh in Ramallah, West Bank, contributed to this report.

Israeli soldiers stand at the scene of an attack near the settlement of Givat Assaf in the West Bank, Thursday, Dec. 13, 2018. A Palestinian gunman opened fire at a bus stop outside a West Bank settlement on Thursday, shooting at soldiers and civilians and killing at least two Israelis before fleeing, the military and Israel's rescue service said. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean) The Associated Press
Palestinians look at a damage after an Israeli raid killed Ashraf Naalweh during an arrest raid in the Asker refugee camp near the West Bank city of Nablus, Thursday, Dec. 13, 2018. Israel accuses Naalweh of shooting to death two Israelis and wounding another at an attack on a West Bank industrial zone in October. He fled the scene and Israeli forces have been searching for him since. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed) The Associated Press
Palestinians look at a damage after an Israeli raid killed Ashraf Naalweh during an arrest raid in the Asker refugee camp near the West Bank city of Nablus, Thursday, Dec. 13, 2018. Israel accuses Naalweh of shooting to death two Israelis and wounding another at an attack on a West Bank industrial zone in October. He fled the scene and Israeli forces have been searching for him since. The writing in Arabic reads: ""Ashraf Naalweh, your blood awaits a victory". (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed) The Associated Press
A Palestinian boy looks at a damage after an Israeli raid killed Ashraf Naalweh during an arrest raid in the Asker refugee camp near the West Bank city of Nablus, Thursday, Dec. 13, 2018. Israel accuses Naalweh of shooting to death two Israelis and wounding another at an attack on a West Bank industrial zone in October. He fled the scene and Israeli forces have been searching for him since. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed) The Associated Press
A Palestinian boy looks at a damage after an Israeli raid killed Ashraf Naalweh during an arrest raid in the Asker refugee camp near the West Bank city of Nablus, Thursday, Dec. 13, 2018. Israel accuses Naalweh of shooting to death two Israelis and wounding another at an attack on a West Bank industrial zone in October. He fled the scene and Israeli forces have been searching for him since. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed) The Associated Press
Palestinians look at a damage after an Israeli raid killed Ashraf Naalweh during an arrest raid in the Asker refugee camp near the West Bank city of Nablus, Thursday, Dec. 13, 2018. Israel accuses Naalweh of shooting to death two Israelis and wounding another at an attack on a West Bank industrial zone in October. He fled the scene and Israeli forces have been searching for him since. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed) The Associated Press
People attend the funeral of a baby who died after being prematurely delivered after her mother Shira Ish-Ran was wounded in a shooting attack near Ofra settlement in the West Bank last Sunday, in Jerusalem, Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2018. (AP Photo/Heidi Levine) The Associated Press
A Palestinian looks at a damage after an Israeli raid killed Ashraf Naalweh during an arrest raid in the Asker refugee camp near the West Bank city of Nablus, Thursday, Dec. 13, 2018. Israel accuses Naalweh of shooting to death two Israelis and wounding another at an attack on a West Bank industrial zone in October. He fled the scene and Israeli forces have been searching for him since. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed) The Associated Press
A man holds a baby who died after being prematurely delivered after her mother Shira Ish-Ran was wounded in a shooting attack near Ofra settlement in the West Bank last Sunday, in Jerusalem, Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2018. (AP Photo/Heidi Levine) The Associated Press
People attend the funeral of a baby who died after being prematurely delivered after her mother Shira Ish-Ran was wounded in a shooting attack near Ofra settlement in the West Bank last Sunday, in Jerusalem, Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2018. (AP Photo/Heidi Levine) The Associated Press
People attend the funeral of a baby who died after being prematurely delivered after her mother Shira Ish-Ran was wounded in a shooting attack near Ofra settlement in the West Bank last Sunday, in Jerusalem, Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2018. (AP Photo/Heidi Levine) The Associated Press
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