Three killed in the West BankThree Israeli citizens were killed and four others wounded by a fighter in the Jewish settlement of
Gush Etzion on Sunday. Meanwhile, an Islamic Jihad leader was shot dead by Israeli soldiers in a gun battle near the town of Jenin, in the northwestern West Bank.
According to Israeli sources, the attack took place at a bus stop situated about 15km south of Jerusalem.
Israel Radio said that the attackers could be members of the "
al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades".
An eye witness from the settlement,
Shaul Goldstein, told
Israeli Radio,
"A Palestinian passed by in a car, let off a burst of fire, and struck down people standing at the hitchhiking post. There are wounded and apparently fatalities too."
In a separate shooting incident, another Israeli was wounded. An Israeli task force was sent to the area of Bethlehem in order to find those who carried out the assault.
A similar attack happened in June this year, close to the settlement of
Hebron, when another gunman killed two Jewish teenagers.
In the second West Bank attack, another Israeli citizen was reported seriously injured by the local rescue service in the settlement of
Eli. The young Islamic Jihad leader in the town of Burkin,
Nihad Abu Ghanim, (27) was shot dead near Jenin and according to the Palestinian hospital officials, he was hit in the head, abdomen and chest.
The incidents have broken a period of tacit cease fire decided by the Palestinian factions last year.
Aljazeera underlines how the attacks happened shortly after the arrest of hundreds of suspects in and around the West Bank, and as a result, "Armed resistance groups had vowed revenge".
The withdrawal of settlers and troops from the Gaza Strip was completed in September after 38 years of occupation, but the Israeli government is enlarging its settlements in the West Bank while the Palestinian people are counting on that land as part of their future state.
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