JERUSALEM (Reuters) – A suspected Palestinian gunman wounded two people in a drive-by shooting in the flashpoint town of Huwara in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, the Israeli military said.
Israeli media said the two casualties were Israeli. There was no immediate comment from Palestinian officials. The military said it was in pursuit of the suspect.
It was the third shooting incident reported around Huwara within a month, raising fears of violence flaring further during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan that partly coincides with the Jewish holiday of Passover in April.
On Sunday, the same day Israeli and Palestinian officials made commitments at a meeting in Egypt to de-escalate violence, a Palestinian gunman opened fire on an Israeli couple in their car in Huwara, wounding the man.
A gunman from the Hamas militant group killed two settlers in a car in the same town during the first round of Israeli-Palestinian de-escalation talks last month in Aqaba.
Settlers responded to that attack by setting fire to Palestinians’ homes and cars, killing at least one Palestinian.
Over the past year, Israeli forces have made thousands of arrests in the West Bank and killed more than 200 Palestinians, including fighters and civilians, while more than 40 Israelis and three Ukrainians have died in Palestinian attacks.
(Reporting by Maayan Lubell; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
