Israeli officials said three people were killed in a shootout in the West Bank where militants were “chasing terrorists”.

Jerusalem — Gunmen opened fire on a bus and other vehicles near a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Monday, killing three people and wounding seven others, the Israel Defense Forces and emergency services said. Violence in the West Bank has escalated since then War in Gaza It erupted on October 7, 2023, after a terrorist attack by Hamas on Israel.

Emergency services provider Magen David Adom said: “Emergency personnel have confirmed the death of three victims, including two women and one man.”

The IDF said troops were “pursuing terrorists” who carried out the attack near the village of Al-Fundugh.

“We will get to the vile killers and bring them to justice, as well as anyone who helps them,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement from his office. “No one will spare.”

Magen David Adom said paramedics treated seven people on the bus, including the driver, who was in critical condition. According to MDA, the two women killed in the shooting were in their 60s, and the man was in his 40s.

“It was a violent attack that spread across several scenes where cars and a bus were shot at,” paramedic Avichai Ben Zruya said. “During our initial search for casualties, we found two women in their 60s unconscious in a car, without a pulse or breathing, with gunshot wounds.”

Troops have set up roadblocks and surrounded several nearby towns to catch the attackers, the military said.

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said he had ordered the military to “act forcefully” to find the attackers.

“We will not tolerate a Gaza-like reality in Judea and Samaria (West Bank), and anyone who follows the path of Hamas in Gaza and facilitates or harbors the killing and harm of Jews will pay a heavy price,” Ben Gvir said. X.

Another far-right member of the country’s ruling coalition, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, also warned about the serious consequences of the attack.

“Fundug, Nablus and Jenin should be like Jabali,” he said. A now-destroyed city in northern Gaza“So that (the central Israeli city) Kfar Saba, God forbid, does not become the next Gaza.”

Since the war in Gaza began, violence has increased in the West Bank. Israeli soldiers or settlers have killed at least 818 Palestinians in the West Bank since the war began, according to the Ramallah-based health ministry. Palestinian attacks on Israelis killed at least 25 people in the West Bank during the same period, according to official Israeli figures.

The Israeli army, receiving warnings from the United Nations and humanitarian groups, continued its intensive operations in Gaza during the holiday period. raids targeting hospitals and camps for internally displaced persons.

Talks by the United States and its partners in the region to reach a ceasefire in the war have repeatedly fueled optimism that an agreement is imminent, but Secretary of State Anthony, speaking during a visit to South Korea on Monday. Blinken acknowledged that this might not be possible To reach a cease-fire agreement until the end of President Biden’s term on January 20.

US President-elect Donald Trump is expected to be more sympathetic to the Israeli government in the war, which he has said will end quickly, although he has been given no guidance on how to achieve that.