Israeli troops kill 2 suspected Palestinian attackers in West Bank

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JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli forces on Tuesday shot and killed two suspected Palestinian assailants wanted in a pair of attacks that wounded three Israelis in the occupied West Bank.

It was the latest burst of violence in the territory, where fighting has spiked in recent weeks.

The Israeli military said that troops shot and killed a suspect who stabbed two soldiers as they were confronting him near Ateret, an Israeli settlement in the central West Bank. It said the incident was under review.

Israel's Mada rescue service said two soldiers were lightly wounded. In the southern West Bank, the army said it shot and killed a Palestinian who had earlier carried out a car-ramming attack that wounded a female soldier.

The army said the man attempted to flee as they tried to arrest him near the city of Hebron “while endangering the soldiers” and he was shot dead.

The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the suspect as a 17-year-old resident of Hebron.

In a statement late Monday, Hamas celebrated the ramming attack near Hebron, saying that it came “in the context of the legitimate response of our people” to Israel’s ongoing raids in the West Bank. The militant group didn’t claim the attack.

The Israeli army has stepped up its activities in the West Bank since Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack triggered the war in Gaza.

Israel says the offensive is aimed at rooting out militants. But Palestinians say scores of stone throwers, protesters and uninvolved civilians have been killed.

In recent weeks, the West Bank has experienced a surge in settler violence against Palestinian civilians. Meanwhile, Palestinian assailants killed an Israeli man in a stabbing and car ramming attack last month.