Two Israelis killed in occupied West Bank attack

Government statement says ‘two Israeli civilians were killed’ in an attack by a Palestinian near the city of Nablus.

A Palestinian gunman has killed two Israelis in their car in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli government said.

A joint statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on Sunday said “two Israeli civilians were killed in a Palestinian terror attack” in an incident near the city of Nablus in the north of the occupied territory.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the incident, which came as Israeli and Palestinian security officials met in Jordan to discuss ways of lowering tensions.

Medics said the casualties near Hawara, an area that sees regular friction between Palestinians and settlers, were men in their 20s.

Israel looks for suspect

Al Jazeera’s Sara Khairat, reporting from West Jerusalem, said that the Israelis killed were living in a settlement near Hawara.

“Israeli security forces closed down some of the checkpoints and they are still looking for the person who carried this [attack] out,” she said.

Sunday’s shooting attack comes amid rising tensions across the occupied West Bank following an Israeli military raid in Nablus in which 11 Palestinians were killed on Wednesday.

According to Palestinian figures, at least 65 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the start of this year.

On Sunday, Israeli and Palestinian representatives were holding talks in Jordan, according to the state media in the kingdom, in a “political-security” meeting aiming to restore calm after deadly violence.

Jordanian state broadcaster Al-Mamlaka said the meeting, which kicked off in the Red Sea resort of Aqaba, was “the first of its kind in years between Palestinians and Israelis with regional and international participation” and would address “the situation in the Palestinian territories”.