One Israeli man has been killed and another wounded when their car was shot at in the occupied West Bank near the settlement of Dolev.
They were found slumped by their car on a dirt road on Friday not far from the settlement. Pictures in local media show the car had been hit several times.
IDF military spokesman Peter Lerner said the two men, both aged 25, had been flagged down on the dirt road by a Palestinian man apparently seeking assistance.
“A Palestinian approached a vehicle that was in the area and asked them to stop … and shot the two from close range.”
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the area near the scene of the attack was cordoned off. “Forces are currently searching the area for suspects. This is being treated at as a terror attack,” Rosenfeld said.
“One of the wounded arrived with no vital signs and the medical team pronounced him dead. The other man is lightly wounded and is receiving treatment,” a spokeswoman for the Sheba medical centre said.
Shootings of settlers in the West Bank have tapered off in recent years as Palestinian attackers have resorted to throwing rocks and petrol bombs at passing Israeli cars. There has been a spate of attacks in which cars have been rammed into civilians waiting for public transport in Jerusalem in the past year and a number of people have been killed.
Tensions flared in Jerusalem last year, both before and after the Gaza war, but the city has been relatively calm in recent months.
The attack occurred on the first Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, but prayers at Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque, which police said were attended by about 80,000 worshippers, passed without incident.