Two Israelis were seriously wounded in a shooting attack late Wednesday in the northern occupied West Bank.
The attack on a vehicle occurred on Route 446 between the Palestinian town of Bruqin and the illegal Israeli settlement of Peduel, according to Israel’s emergency medical service Magen David Adom.
The Israeli army said it has launched a manhunt for the perpetrator.
The Palestinian group Hamas said “the heroic shooting operation targeting a settlers’ vehicle near the town of Bruqin, west of Salfit, comes as a response to the escalating crimes and ongoing aggression by the occupation against our people in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, as well as against our prisoners and holy sites.”
At least 962 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured in attacks by the Israeli army and illegal settlers in the West Bank since the start of the onslaught in the Gaza Strip in October 2023, according to Palestinian figures.
The International Court of Justice declared in July 2024 that Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian land is illegal and demanded the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.