Israel army says killed two Palestinians after West Bank attacks

The Israeli military said Tuesday it had killed two assailants it said attacked soldiers in separate incidents in the occupied West Bank, with the Palestinian Authority identifying the deceased as a 17 and 18-year-old.

The army said the first attack took place Monday evening near Hebron, in the south of the Palestinian territory, where a female soldier was lightly injured in a car ramming attack.

In a statement, it said that after pursuing the attacker, Israeli forces attempted to apprehend the suspect, during which they shot him dead.

The attacker "attempted to flee while endangering the forces, who responded with live fire," the military statement said.

As the army did not return his body, the Palestinian Authority said it had been informed by Israel of the death of 17-year-old Muhannad Tariq Mohammed al-Zaghir, who was killed by Israeli soldiers "in the city of Hebron," without elaborating further.

The Israeli military said the second attack took place near Ramallah, in the centre of the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967.

Soldiers were dispatched to the area near the Israeli settlement of Ateret following a report of a suspect, the army said in a brief statement.

"While confronting the suspect, he began to stab the soldiers, who responded with fire and eliminated him," the statement added.

Israel's Magen David Adom (MDA) emergency services reported two lightly wounded men around 20 years old.

The Palestinian Authority said it had been informed by Israel of the death of 18-year-old Mohammed Raslan Mahmoud Asmar, who was shot by Israeli forces north of Ramallah.

In a statement, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement praised the attacks as "heroic operations... against the occupation soldiers".

Violence in the West Bank has soared since Palestinian militant group Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel triggered the Gaza war.

It has not ceased despite the fragile truce between Israel and Hamas coming into effect in October.

Israeli troops or settlers have killed more than 1,000 Palestinians, many of them militants, but also scores of civilians, in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war, according to an AFP tally based on Palestinian health ministry figures.

At least 44 Israelis, including both soldiers and civilians, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or Israeli military operations, according to official Israeli figures.