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Suspected Palestinian gunmen kill two Israelis: army

By AAP Newswire

Aug 20, 2023

Israeli soldiers stand by an ambulance near Huwara — The Israeli army says it is looking for suspects after two people were shot dead in the West Bank. -EPA

A suspected Palestinian shooting attack has killed two Israelis in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli military says.

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The two men, a father and son, were shot at close range at a car wash in the Palestinian village of Huwara, according to Israel's public broadcaster Kan.

The Israeli military said it was searching the area for the assailants and had set up blockades in the vicinity of the attack.Â

Israel's ambulance service confirmed two people had died in the shooting.

Violence in the West Bank has worsened over the past 15 months with stepped up Israeli raids, Palestinian street attacks and assaults by Jewish settlers on Palestinian villages.

Prospects of reviving US-brokered peace talks that collapsed almost a decade ago and had aimed to establish a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, remain dim.

Israel captured the West Bank in a 1967 war and has since built dozens of settlements there that are considered illegal by most countries, a view Israel disputes.

The Palestinians have limited self-rule in the West Bank and remain split between a foreign-backed administration there and armed Hamas Islamists who control Gaza and reject co-existence with Israel.

Hamas and other armed groups praised the Huwara attack on Saturday.

By AAP Newswire

Australian Associated Press