An Israeli civilian killed two Palestinians in the occupied West Bank on Thursday after they allegedly stabbed another Israeli who was trying to extinguish a wildfire near a settlement, the military said.
Violence in the West Bank, a Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967, has escalated since the start of the war in Gaza.
"Earlier today, a fire broke out in the area adjacent to the community of Itamar. During the extinguishing attempts, two terrorists stabbed an Israeli civilian," the military said, AFP reported.
It added that another Israeli identified the attack and "eliminated" the two Palestinians, without specifying how they were killed.
In a separate statement, Israeli police said the stabbing occurred as Israelis were "attempting to extinguish a fire that was apparently set there".
The wounded Israeli was stabbed in the chest and evacuated to hospital in serious condition, a medic with the Magen David Adom emergency service said.
Yossi Dagan, head of the administrative body representing Israeli settlements in the northern West Bank, visited the scene and called on the Israeli government to respond "with an iron fist" to the stabbing.
Dagan said the two Palestinians came from the village of Beit Furik, adding that its residents had allegedly carried out the "arson attack".
The military said Israeli police and the fire service were investigating the circumstances surrounding the outbreak of the blaze.
Excluding east Jerusalem, more than 500,000 Israelis live in settlements in the West Bank alongside around three million Palestinians.
All Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law.
According to an AFP tally based on data from the Palestinian health ministry, Israeli soldiers or settlers have killed at least 1,090 Palestinians, including both militants and civilians, over the same period.
