Two Israeli men killed in West Bank shooting, officials say

Two Israeli men were killed in a shooting at a gas station outside a settlement in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Thursday afternoon, Israeli officials said, who said the gunman was also killed.

Avraham Applebaum, an Israeli emergency medical services doctor, said that when he arrived at the gas station outside the Israeli settlement of Eli, he saw “an injured person with many gunshot wounds lying in a car and another” lying on the ground.

“We did what we could,” Mr. Applebaum said, but the wounds were too severe. Shortly afterwards, the two men, aged 20 and 40, were pronounced dead by emergency services.

The Israeli military called the attacker a “terrorist,” adding that he was killed after opening fire at the gas station. According to Israeli media reports, he was killed by a civilian who had returned from reserve duty in Gaza.

Four civilians were killed last June at the same gas station in Eli in a shooting claimed by Hamas.

Last week, a shooting took place near a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank killed one and injured several others.

Since the October 7 Hamas attack and the start of Israel’s campaign in Gaza, violence and Israeli military attacks have escalated in the West Bank, as well as unauthorized removals by Jewish settlers in the occupied territory. Palestinian militias have carried out shooting attacks on Israelis; frequent Israeli military raids have arrested thousands of people and have often proven deadly; and extremist Jewish settlers have swept through Palestinian villages and burned property.