Settler kills suspected Palestinian gunman in West Bank: Army

JERUSALEM: An Israeli settler killed an attacker in the occupied West Bank on Friday, the Israeli military said, the latest bloodshed in a spate of violence in the Palestinian territories.

The incident took place in the Dorot Illit settlement in the north of the West Bank, the army said in a statement.

“A terrorist armed with knives and explosive devices arrived in the area of ​​Dorot Illit” before the settler spotted the attacker, opened fire and “neutralized” him, it said.

Contacted by AFP, the military confirmed the attacker had been shot. The Palestinian Health Ministry said the settler killed 21-year-old Abd al-Karim al-Sheikh in Qalqilya, a Palestinian town near Dorot Illit.

It came hours after a member of the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas opened fire on a cafe in Tel Aviv, injuring three people before it was shot dead by police.

One of the injured remained in critical condition on Friday, the hospital where he is being treated said.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant said he ordered the immediate demolition of the attacker’s home in Nilin, near the West Bank city of Ramallah.

The Israeli army, the internal security service Shin Bet and the border police were stationed overnight in the attacker’s house, the military said.

During the operation, “two family members of the terrorist were arrested … for further questioning,” a statement said.

Three armed Palestinians, including two Islamic Jihad fighters, were killed in an Israeli military operation in the northern West Bank on Thursday morning.

Islamic Jihad and Hamas vowed to avenge the dead.

Since the beginning of the year, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has claimed the lives of 77 Palestinian adults and children, including militants and civilians.

Twelve Israeli civilians, including three children, and a police officer, as well as a Ukrainian civilian were killed during the same period, according to official sources from both sides. -AFP