FOUR Israelis have been killed in a shooting attack near a settlement in the occupied West Bank, paramedics say.
Four others were wounded, one of them seriously, when two Palestinian gunmen opened fire at a restaurant and petrol station on a highway outside Eli.
Israel’s military said the assailants were “Hamas-affiliated terrorists”.
One was shot dead at the scene by an armed civilian, while the second fled in a stolen car and was later killed by Israeli forces in the town of Tubas.
Israel’s prime minister said “all options are open” in response to what he called the “shocking and abhorrent terrorist attack”, which followed heightened violence across the West Bank in recent days.
A spokesman for Hamas said the shooting was a response to an Israeli military raid in Jenin on Monday in which six Palestinians were killed.
Tuesday’s shooting took place just to the south of Eli on Highway 60, the main road between the Palestinian cities of Ramallah and Nablus.
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a statement that the two gunmen arrived in a car from the village of Urif, about 10km (6 miles) to the north.
They opened fire at a roadside hummus restaurant first, killing three civilians, then shot dead another civilian in the forecourt of the petrol station, he added.
One of the gunmen was shot and killed by an armed civilian, but the other was able to flee the scene in a stolen car.
Adm Hagari said IDF soldiers and officers from the Shin Bet security service later found the vehicle near Tubas, 29km to the north-east, and shot and killed the second gunman.
A paramedic with the Magen David Adom (MDA) ambulance service, Motty Dahan, said that he and his colleagues saw a “complex site” when they arrived at the scene of the attack. He added that there were seven victims suffering from gunshot wounds.
“We performed medical checks and began providing medical treatment, three of the victims were evacuated in MDA MICUs [Mobile Intensive Care Units] to hospital, and unfortunately four of the victims were pronounced dead.”
Three of those killed were identified by Israeli media as 18-year-old Elisha Antman and 64-year-old Ofer Feirman from Eli, as well as 21-year-old Harel Masoud from Yad Binyamin, a town in central Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement: “From the depths of my heart, I send condolences to the families of those who were murdered, may God avenge them, and on behalf of the entire people, I send my best wishes for a swift recovery to the wounded.”
“I would like to remind all those who seek to harm us: All options are open. We will continue to fight terrorism with full force and we will defeat it,” he added.
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem described the shooting as a “response to the crimes of the occupation [Israel] in Jenin refugee camp yesterday”.
Six Palestinians, including a 15-year-old boy, were killed and more than 90 wounded during a raid into the camp by Israeli forces on Monday morning. Several Israeli soldiers were also wounded during the incursion.
Overnight, another Palestinian man was killed by Israeli army fire near Bethlehem, in the southern West Bank.
The number of Israelis killed was the highest since an attack by a Palestinian outside a synagogue in occupied East Jerusalem in January, when seven died.
Since the start of the year, more than 160 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. The figures include militants as well as civilians.
In addition, 27 people on the Israeli side have been killed – including two foreigners and a Palestinian worker – in attacks or apparent attacks by Palestinians. All were civilians except one off-duty serving soldier and a member of the Israeli security forces.