Gunmen opened fire on a bus carrying Israelis in the West Bank on Monday, killing at least three people and wounding seven others.
The attack took place in the small Palestinian town of Al-Funduq, on one of the main east-west roads crossing the territory. Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service said two women in their 60s and a man in his 40s were killed, and the army said it was searching for the attackers.
Palestinians have carried out dozens of shootings, stabbings and car-ramming attacks against Israelis in recent years, with violence escalating on the groundfrom the Hamas-led offensive in southern Israel to October 7, 2023.
Israel has launched almost nightly military attacks across the region that often provoke gun battles with militants. There has also been a significant increase in the attacks on Palestinians by Israeli settlers, which has led the United States to impose sanctions.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health says that at least 838 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank since the start of the war in Gaza. Most of them appear to have been killed in battles with Israeli soldiers, but the dead also include participants in violent protests and civilian bystanders.
Netanyahu promises to catch attackers
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to “reach the callous murderers” behind Monday's attack and “settle accounts with them and all those who helped them.” No one will be saved.”
Hamas praised the attack in a statement but did not claim responsibility for it.
Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war, and the Palestinians want all three areas for their future state.
Palestinians living in the West Bank say that the tactics of Israeli settlers have worsened in the past year. Margaret Evans and the CBC News team went to the South Hebron Mountains to better understand what it's like to live in the shadow of these illegal settlements. “
About three million Palestinians live in the West Bank under apparently open Israeli military rule, with the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority administering population centers.
More than 500,000 settlers with Israeli citizenship live in more than 100 settlements across the land, ranging from small hilltop outposts to sprawling communities that resemble suburbs or small towns. Most of the international community believes that the settlements are illegal.
Meanwhile, the war in Gaza rages on with no end in sight, although progress has been reported recently in long-running talks aimed at a ceasefire is hostility.
Israeli air and ground attacks have killed more than 45,800 Palestinians in Gaza, according to local health authorities, who say women and children make up more than half of those killed. They do not say how many of the dead were terrorists. The Israeli military says it has killed more than 17,000 fighters, without providing evidence.
The first surprise attack in Israel nearly 15 months ago killed around 1,200 people, including several Canadian citizens. About 100 hostages remain inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead by the Israeli government.
Hamas has suffered heavy losses but has regrouped again after the Israeli operation. Militants fired three projectiles into Israel from Gaza on Monday, one of which was intercepted, the military said. There were no reports of casualties.
The war has devastated large areas of Gaza and displaced 90 percent of the region's population of 2.3 million, often multiple times. Hundreds of thousands are enduring a cold, wet winter in tented camps on the windy coast.
Aid groups say Israeli restrictions, ongoing fighting and a breakdown in law and order in many areas make it difficult to provide food and other much-needed aid.
