1 Israeli killed, 3 others injured in West Bank settlement shooting

One Israeli has been killed and three others wounded, after a vehicle was shot at on a road near the Israeli settlement of Shvut Rachel in the West Bank late Monday, Israeli security sources said.

While all four men were taken to a nearby hospital, 27-year-old, Malakhi Moshe Rosenfeld, who was the only Israeli to be seriously wounded in the shooting, later succumbed to his injuries. The other victims remain hospitalised, but in stable condition. 

According to the Israeli news site Ynet, the four sustained bullet wounds in their upper and lower bodies. The shots were fired at a crossroads near the settlement in the north of the West Bank.

The Israeli army erected checkpoints in the area, and a number of Israeli troops and special forces were sent to search neighbouring villages. Dozens of Israeli soldiers raided the nearby town of Qaryout and imposed a curfew, the Palestinian news agency Maan reported.

Soldiers also set up a checkpoint on the road to Nablus, the Maan report said.

The leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine initially claimed responsibility for the attack, but later it was reported that Fatah al-Intifada, an offshoot of Fatah which broke off in the 1980s, had taken responsibility.

According to Palestinian officials, speaking to Haaretz it is difficult to confirm which group was behind the assault, as Fatah al-Intifada is predominantly based in Palestinian camps in Syria and has a limited West Bank presence. 

The shooting came amid a string of attacks against the Israeli military and setters in the West Bank and Jerusalem. Earlier on Monday, a Palestinian woman was arrested after stabbing an Israeli soldier at a checkpoint in Bethlehem. On 21 June, another Palestinian was shot after stabbing an Israeli border policeman in East Jerusalem.

The president of the Shomron regional council, which groups together the Jewish settlements in the region, said in a statement following the shooting: "We must not let terrorism spread."

"I call on the government to authorise the army to act without pity against these savages who take civilians for targets," he said.

The Israeli military has occupied the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since 1967. Over 500,000 Israeli settlers now live in the Palestinian territories, in contravention of international law.