News - Middle East: Two Israeli settlers have been killed in a shooting operation in the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian Information center, citing eyewitnesses, reported on Sunday that a Palestinian youth opened fire on a car in the center of the West Bank town of Hawara, south of Nablus, leaving two settlers dead.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the incident.
The Israeli military says it is pursuing the gunman who has left the scene.

Senior officials from Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) recently met in the Jordanian resort city of Aqaba to discuss ways of lowering tensions in the occupied territories.

The so-called Israeli-Palestinian security summit was organized by the White House in Jordan after the Israeli military's deadly raid in Nablus.

The Gaza-based Hamas and Islamic Jihad resistance movements have praised the shooting operation, saying it is a natural reaction to Israeli crimes against Palestinians—the most recent of which was the deadly raid in Nablus.

Islamic Jihad said this operation was carried out in line with the promise of revenge for the blood of the two Palestinian resistance fighters who were killed by Israeli forces in Nablus.

It went on to say that this operation sends a message to the security meeting in Aqaba that the resistance will confront the occupying regime and Israeli settlers as long as aggression against Palestinians continue.

Tensions have been rising across the occupied West Bank as Israeli forces launch raids on a daily basis under the pretext of detaining what the regime calls “wanted” Palestinians. The raids usually lead to deadly attacks against residents.

Over the past months, Israel has ramped up attacks on Palestinian towns and cities throughout the occupied territories. As a result of these attacks, dozens of Palestinians have lost their lives and many others have been arrested.