Palestinian gunman kills two Israelis in West Bank-army

A Palestinian gunman ambushed an Israeli family in the West Bank on Friday, killing a father and his son, while clashes with Israeli security forces in the territory killed two Palestinians in the latest escalation of violence.

A woman and an adolescent boy were wounded, hospital sources said. Israel said it shot the man after he attacked troops who were arresting a suspect wanted in the stabbing of an Israeli.

“The protesters are mostly young people and they are about ten metres away from the soldiers”, Zanoun said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent condolences and said: “We will reach the despicable murderers and we will bring them to justice, as we have in the past”. “We will fight terror in any place it is needed”.

These also include minimum jail terms for Palestinian stone-throwers, looser rules of engagement for the army and withholding the bodies of attackers to prevent funerals from becoming political rallies.

Israel says they belonged to a Hamas cell, the Islamist movement that controls the Gaza Strip and is a staunch enemy of the Jewish state.

Footage said to be from a security camera at the hospital and posted to Israeli news sites showed at least a dozen men, a few wearing traditional Palestinian scarves called keffiyeh, pushing a man in a wheelchair down a hall as perplexed nurses look on.

On Thursday, Israeli troops stormed Hebron’s Al-Ahli hospital, killing a Palestinian during an early morning raid to arrest his cousin.

The Israeli army confirmed the raid and said they had detained Abdallah Azzam al-Shalalda, 27, who was suspected of stabbing an Israeli settler near the West Bank city of Hebron two weeks ago.

Two Israeli men were killed and a 16-year-old was moderately injured.

Israeli media reported that the gunman stopped his vehicle at the side of the road and waited for an Israeli auto to pass. After the fatal shooting, occupants of another Israeli auto reported shots fired at the vehicle, with no injuries.

The violence was originally focused in and around Jerusalem but has recently shifted to the area of Hebron.

In breach of worldwide law, an estimated 547,000 Israelis live in Jewish settlements and outposts across the West Bank, including in occupied East Jersualem, according to the Israeli rights group B’Tselem. Attacks on civilians are never justified, but Israeli forces have responded with intentional lethal use of force in many cases where it was not warranted.

The two other West Bank homes, near Ramallah and in the Qalandiya refugee camp, have been linked to murders dating back to June.

Another 500 Palestinian demonstrators gathered on the Israeli border in central Gaza, according to Ezz Zanoun, a local photographer from the protest.