A Palestinian assailant shot and killed two Israelis driving along a West Bank road on Thursday, the Israeli military said, amid mounting tensions surrounding a Jerusalem site holy to both Muslims and Jews.
The military said forces were scouring the area, near the Palestinian village of Beit Furik, but did not immediately provide details of the attack. Israeli media reported the attacker fired from a passing car and said the Israelis killed were a couple. Media reported their four children were in the car during the attack and were lightly wounded.
"There was very, very massive fire," Eli Bin, the director of Israel's rescue service MDA, told Israeli Channel 2 TV news. "We didn't have much choice but to pronounce them dead on the spot."
The attack comes as tensions continue to flare between Israelis and Palestinians over the Jerusalem site known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary.
Over the past two weeks, Palestinian protesters have clashed with Israeli police at the hilltop compound and unrest has spilled over to Arab neighborhoods of east Jerusalem and the West Bank. In one incident in Jerusalem, an Israeli motorist was killed over the New Year holiday last month after his car was pelted with stones.
The compound in Jerusalem's Old City is a frequent flashpoint and its fate is a core issue at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Palestinians claim east Jerusalem, which was captured by Israel from Jordan in the 1967 Mideast war, as their future capital.
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