One Israeli killed in suspected Palestinian shooting attack in West Bank

A suspected Palestinian assailant shot and killed an Israeli near a settlement in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, emergency services said.

Israel’s public broadcaster Kan said the assailant opened fire at an Israeli security guard near the Kdumim settlement in the northern West Bank.

The military said the attacker had been “neutralized” but gave no further details.

The attack followed Israel’s two-day operation earlier in the week in the northern West Bank city of Jenin, about 10 kilometers away, its biggest in years.

Twelve Palestinians, at least nine of them confirmed militant fighters, were killed as well as one Israeli soldier.

Hamas, a Palestinian militant group that controls the Gaza Strip but also has a presence in the West Bank, praised Thursday’s shooting which it said was a response to Israel’s Jenin operation.

Violence in the West Bank has escalated over the past 15 months, with increased Israeli raids, Palestinian street attacks and settler rampages in Palestinian villages.