Three Israelis were killed in Palestinian gunfire in the West Bank

Three Israelis were killed and eight wounded when Palestinians opened fire on a bus and two cars in the northern part of the occupied West Bank, the Israeli military and paramedics said.

The dead have been identified as two women in their 60s and a 35-year-old policeman. The bus driver was seriously injured.

The Israeli military said the “terrorists” opened fire on the vehicles near the village of al-Funduk, located on Highway 55, and then fled the scene.

Israeli media quoted military officials as saying that at least two Palestinian gunmen carried out the attack and that security forces were chasing them, setting up roadblocks and surrounding several towns in the area.

Magen David Adom paramedic Avichai Ben Tzuria described it as “a very serious attack spread out on the road, involving multiple vehicles.”

“We conducted a quick search and identified two women and a man in private cars with no pulse, suffering from severe gunshot wounds. We had no choice but to declare them dead on the spot,” he said in a statement.

“Inside the bus, we treated victims of gunshots and broken glass injuries, including the bus driver – who was conscious and suffering from gunshot wounds – as well as additional victims in light to moderate condition.”

The wounded were evacuated to two hospitals in central Israel.

Israeli police forces later named the slain man as Sergeant Elad Yaakov Winkelstein, a police investigator from Kibbutz Ein Hanatziv in northern Israel who was working in the West Bank settlement of Ariel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to bring to justice what he called the “vile killers” along with anyone who helped them.

“No one will get away,” he wrote to X.

There was no immediate claim from Palestinian armed groups, although Hamas praised the attack as a “heroic response to (Israel’s) ongoing crimes, including the war in Gaza”.

Hundreds of Palestinians and dozens of Israelis have been killed in a wave of violence in the West Bank since the start of the war, which was sparked by a deadly attack by Hamas on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

On Sunday, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said two Palestinians – a 17-year-old boy and a 40-year-old man – were killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank.

The teenager was shot during an Israeli attack in the Askar refugee camp near the city of Nablus, which is 10 kilometers (6 miles) east of Al-Funduk, the statement said.

The Israeli army said its troops fired at people who threw explosives at them in the Nablus area, according to Reuters. It added that a “hit has been identified” and that the incident is being investigated.

The man was killed in the town of Meitaloon, 21 km northeast of al-Funduk, where the Israeli military said border police officers killed an armed suspect during a wider operation in which 19 other people were arrested.