Two Israeli settlers killed in occupied West Bank shooting

Two Israeli settlers were killed and another seriously wounded on Friday in a shooting attack on a vehicle in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli army and medics said.

The Israeli army said the assailants struck at Hamra junction, near an illegal settlement in the northern part of the Jordan Valley. It did not immediately give details on the identity of the dead women.

The Magen David Adom emergency service said it had confirmed the "death of two women in their 20s and provided medical treatment to a 40-year-old woman in a serious condition".

Israeli media reports said the dead women were sisters from the Efrat settlement, and the woman being treated is their mother.

The army said it had blocked roads around the scene of the shooting and launched a manhunt.

The attack came hours after Israel bombarded both Gaza and Lebanon in response to Palestinian rocket fire from the two territories after Israeli raids on occupied East Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

It was the biggest salvo fired from Lebanon since Israel fought a 34-day war with Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in 2006 and the first time Israel has confirmed an attack on Lebanese territory since April 2022.

It comes after Israeli forces raided the Al-Aqsa compound – Islam's third-holiest site – twice on Wednesday, wounding hundreds of Palestinians.

So far in 2023, Israeli forces and settlers have killed over 90 Palestinians.