Israeli reinforcements deployed in West Bank after settlers killed

The Israeli occupation army has sent military reinforcements to the West Bank on Friday, as clashes continued with Palestinians.

The new escalation follows the killing of two Israeli settlers, a man and his wife.

Unknown gunmen opened fire at their car as they travelled between the settlements of Elon Moreh and Itamar near the village of Beit Furik in the occupied West Bank on Thursday night.

A group of young Israeli settlers, some hooded, gathered to throw stones at passing Palestinian vehicles

Violent clashes erupted later between occupation forces and settlers, and Palestinians, in the West Bank near Nablus.

Israeli media said that the occupation army, after holding military discussions, has decided to send more troops to Nablus, to head off further confrontations in the West Bank.

The Israeli reinforcements will also take part in the manhunt launched to capture the shooters, who fled in their car.

Reacting to the settlers' death, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu held the Palestinian Authority responsible for the attack, claiming the shooting was the result of "incitement" by the Palestinian Authority.

The Israeli occupation forces in the West Bank have stepped up their security measures in the Nablus area, closing a number of checkpoints and launching raids and search operations into homes in several Palestinian villages.

Security forces closed off the area where the attack happened after Israeli television showed a group of young Israeli settlers, some hooded, had gathered to throw stones at passing Palestinian vehicles.

The shooting came just hours after Netanyahu offered in a speech at the UN General Assembly to "immediately resume direct peace negotiations" with the Palestinians.

However, Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas on Wednesday said Israel's refusal to release prisoners and stop settlement activity was hampering fresh talks, the same day the Palestinian flag was raised at the United Nations.

Tensions have been running high between Israeli police and Palestinians at the al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem and after a series of attacks by Jewish extremists.

'Time to act'

Tensions have been running high after a series of attacks by Jewish extremists

"The time for talking [with the Palestinians] is over," Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett thundered in a statement following Thursday's attack.

"It is time to act," he added, saying that "people whose leaders support... murder will never be a state".

Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon said security forces "will spare no efforts to arrest the killers and their sponsors".

The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas for its part hailed those behind Thursday's shootings.

"This operation was in response to the crimes of the Zionists," it said in a statement.

The attack came after court documents showed Israel was considering authorising wildcat settlement outposts in the West Bank near a village where a firebombing in July killed an 18-month-old Palestinian boy and his parents.

The international community regards all Jewish settlements in the West Bank as illegal.

Israel occupied the West Bank in the 1967 Six-Day War in a move never recognised by the international community.

Hardline Jewish nationalists see the entire West Bank as part of Israel, which refers to the territory as Judea and Samaria, the names for the ancient biblical kingdoms located there.

The last killing of an Israeli in the West Bank happened on June 29 when a settler died and three others in a car with him were wounded.

The situation is particularly tense in the northern West Bank after a Palestinian died in late September after being shot during clashes with the Israeli army that also saw another 51 Palestinians wounded.