Gunmen Kill One Israeli on West Bank Highway

Israeli emergency services gather at the scene of a shooting attack on February 22, 2024  ear Maale Adumim settlement, east of Jerusalem. (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP)
Israeli emergency services gather at the scene of a shooting attack on February 22, 2024 ear Maale Adumim settlement, east of Jerusalem. (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP)
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Gunmen Kill One Israeli on West Bank Highway

Israeli emergency services gather at the scene of a shooting attack on February 22, 2024  ear Maale Adumim settlement, east of Jerusalem. (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP)
Israeli emergency services gather at the scene of a shooting attack on February 22, 2024 ear Maale Adumim settlement, east of Jerusalem. (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP)

Three Palestinians opened fire at motorists near an Israeli checkpoint in the occupied West Bank near Jerusalem on Thursday, killing one person and wounding five others, emergency services said.

Two women were seriously wounded, the head of Israel's ambulance service Eli Bean told public broadcaster Kan. Police said officers shot dead two gunmen and wounded a third. A spokesperson said the gunmen were Palestinian but gave no further details.

Tensions in the West Bank are already high due to Israel's war in Gaza.

Thursday’s shooting comes after two people were shot dead on Friday at a bus stop in southern Israel near the town of Kiryat Malakhi.

The West Bank has seen near-daily raids by the Israeli military on Palestinians that have often turned deadly, as well as Palestinian attacks on Israeli settlers.

Israeli troops and settlers have killed at least 400 Palestinians in the West Bank since the Gaza war began, according to the Palestinian health ministry in Ramallah.



Egypt Hosts Hamas in New Gaza Ceasefire Push, Looting Halts Aid

Egyptian workers are seen in front of the new headquarters of Egypt's parliament in the New Administrative Capital (NAC) east of Cairo, Egypt June 21, 2023. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh/File Photo
Egyptian workers are seen in front of the new headquarters of Egypt's parliament in the New Administrative Capital (NAC) east of Cairo, Egypt June 21, 2023. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh/File Photo
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Egypt Hosts Hamas in New Gaza Ceasefire Push, Looting Halts Aid

Egyptian workers are seen in front of the new headquarters of Egypt's parliament in the New Administrative Capital (NAC) east of Cairo, Egypt June 21, 2023. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh/File Photo
Egyptian workers are seen in front of the new headquarters of Egypt's parliament in the New Administrative Capital (NAC) east of Cairo, Egypt June 21, 2023. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh/File Photo

Hamas leaders held talks with Egyptian security officials on Sunday in a fresh push for a ceasefire in the Gaza war, two Hamas sources said, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was set to convene his security cabinet on the matter, two Israeli officials said.

The Hamas visit to Cairo was the first since the United States announced on Wednesday it would revive efforts in collaboration with Qatar, Egypt and Türkiye to negotiate a ceasefire in Gaza, that would include a hostage deal.

White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan said he thought the chances of a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza were now more likely.

"(Hamas) are isolated. Hezbollah is no longer fighting with them, and their backers in Iran and elsewhere are preoccupied with other conflicts," he told CNN on Sunday, Reuters reported.

"So I think we may have a chance to make progress, but I'm not going to predict exactly when it will happen ... we've come so close so many times and not gotten across the finish line."

Palestinians say Israel's operations on the northern edge of the enclave are part of a plan to clear people out through forced evacuations and bombardments to create a buffer zone. The Israeli military strongly denies this and says it is fighting against Hamas.

The military says it has killed hundreds of Hamas militants in that part of Gaza as it fights to stop the faction regrouping. It has also lost around 30 soldiers there in combat with Hamas fighters over the past two months, a relatively high death toll.