Palestinian gunman sought after 2 Israeli soldiers shot dead at West Bank bus stop

A Palestinian gunman opened fire at a bus stop outside a West Bank settlement on Thursday, shooting at soldiers and civilians and killing at least two Israeli soldiers before fleeing, Israel's military and rescue service said.

The military said the assailant also wounded two other people, including another soldier who was critically wounded. It said troops were searching the area for the attacker and that it was sending reinforcements

The killings extend a violent week that began with a shooting outside a West Bank settlement on Sunday. A baby who was delivered prematurely died following the weekend attack. As well, two Palestinians wanted in that and another attack on Israelis in the West Bank were killed.

The Israeli military said the assailant in Thursday's incident stepped out of his car and fired at the bus stop, wounding several people and then fleeing the scene. It said forces were searching the area for the attacker.

The shooting happened about a 10-minute drive south from the location of Sunday's attack. 

While the West Bank experiences occasional deadly violence, often between Israeli troops and Palestinian protesters, much of the Israeli-Palestinian bloodshed in recent months has been limited to the Gaza Strip, where some 175 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in border protests.

"In recent days, we definitely feel like the situation [in the West Bank] is getting worse," Shalom Galil, a paramedic who assisted at the scene of the shooting, told Israeli Army Radio.

Clampdown on Ramallah

Following the attack, Israel set up checkpoints at the entrances to the West Bank city of Ramallah, searching cars entering the city and checking driver IDs. Some Israeli-controlled roads were completely blocked to Palestinian traffic.

Speaking at a military ceremony, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to "settle the score" with the attacker who killed the two soldiers.

"Our guiding principle is that whoever harms us or tries to harm us will be held responsible," he said.

The clampdown on Ramallah, the Palestinians' economic and administrative centre, was an unusual step that signalled the severity with which Israel viewed the violent flare-up.

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Walid Whadan, spokesperson of the Palestinian civil affairs ministry, said Israel had not taken such measures in Ramallah since the second Palestinian uprising that ended more than a decade ago.

Lt.-Col. Jonathan Conricus, a military spokesperson, said the gunman fled toward Ramallah and that the measures were also meant to prevent additional attacks.

"We know that when there is one attack there may be others," he told reporters.

Conricus declined to comment on whether there was a connection between Thursday's shooting and the attack earlier this week, but he said the army was "investigating such theories" and responding to the current "environment of incitement" in the West Bank.

'Climate' conducive to violence

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the latest round of violence, criticizing both militant attacks and the tough Israeli response.

In a statement, Abbas's office accused Israel of creating a "climate" conducive to violence through its frequent military operations in Palestinian cities. He also accused Israel of incitement against him.

"This atmosphere created by the frequent Israeli raids of the cities, and the incitement against the president and the absence of the peace hopes, lead to this series of violence that both people are paying the price for," the statement said.

Suspects from earlier shootings are killed

Thursday's shooting came hours after Israeli security forces tracked down and killed a Palestinian accused of killing two Israelis.

Israeli police said Ashraf Naalweh was found armed near the West Bank city of Nablus and was killed during an arrest raid.

Israel accuses Naalweh of shooting to death two Israelis and wounding another at an attack on a West Bank industrial zone in October. He fled the scene, and Israeli forces had been searching for him since.

"Israel's long arm will reach anyone who harms Israeli citizens," Netanyahu said.

Police said it had made a number of arrests in its attempt to hunt down Naalweh and suspected he was planning on carrying out another attack.

On Wednesday, Israeli forces killed Salah Barghouti, a Palestinian suspect wanted in the drive-by shooting earlier this week at a West Bank bus stop.

In Sunday night's attack, assailants in a Palestinian vehicle opened fire at a bus stop outside a West Bank settlement, wounding seven people, including a 21-year-old pregnant woman, before speeding away.

The militant Hamas group that rules the Gaza Strip said that both Barghouti and Naalweh were its members, but stopped short of claiming responsibility for the attacks the two carried out.

"The flame of resistance in the [West] Bank will remain alive until the occupation is defeated on all our land," Hamas said.

Abbas's administration sought to shift focus to Israel's West Bank settlements, which most countries regard as illegal.

"The international community bears part of the responsibility for the aggression by the occupation and the settlers because of its silence toward these attacks," said Palestinian government spokesperson Youssef Al-Mahmoud.

Asked whether they had co-operated in the raids, Israeli and Palestinian security officials declined comment.

Also Thursday, police said an assailant stabbed two officers in Jerusalem's Old City, wounding them lightly. The officers opened fire on the attacker and he was killed, spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld said.

Police identified the man as a 26-year-old Palestinian from the West Bank. It released security camera footage that shows the man lunging toward the officers and appearing to stab them.