Jerusalem (CNN) Two Israeli soldiers were shot dead Thursday at a bus stop on a main road in the Israeli-controlled part of the West Bank, the Israeli military said.

A third soldier and a fourth person were wounded in the incident, according to officials.

Israel's army said in a statement that the gunman stepped out of a vehicle and opened fire before fleeing the scene. The army was focusing its search for the gunman in the nearby Palestinian city of Ramallah, and said it had closed entry points to the city.

The fatal attack came on a day of heightened tension in the West Bank and Jerusalem.

A Palestinian man was shot dead by Israeli forces at Al-Bireh, close to Ramallah, after the army said he had attempted a car-ramming assault on Israeli soldiers, one of whom was lightly injured.

Read More </s> By AFP - Dec 14,2018 - Last updated at Dec 14,2018

A Palestinian demonstrator covers her face during confrontations with Israeli forces in Ramallah, near the housing units of Beit El, in the occupied West Bank, on Thursday (AFP photo)

RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories — A Palestinian shot dead two Israeli soldiers at a bus stop in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, the Israeli forces said, sparking army raids in the city of Ramallah during which a Palestinian was killed.

In response, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to ‘legalise’ thousands of housing units considered unlawfully-built even by Israel.

The attack came hours after Israeli forces killed two Palestinian murder suspects.

In total six people were killed in the most violent 24 hours to hit the West Bank and Jerusalem in months.

The Israeli forces said a Palestinian exited his car at a bus stop near the Ofra settlement in the West Bank before opening fire on soldiers and civilians.

Two soldiers were killed and at least two other people — including another soldier — were wounded, the army said, with the attacker fleeing.

“We are searching for the terrorist. We will find him,” the military said on Twitter.

Following the attack, the army raided the nearby city of Ramallah, home to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Entrances and exits to the city were sealed and the forces entered multiple neighbourhoods, AFP correspondents said.

Confrontations broke out in various spots and continued into Thursday evening.

A 60-year-old man was shot dead by Israeli soldiers, in what the army said was an attempted car ramming.

The bus stop shooting came only hours after Israeli forces killed two Palestinians allegedly responsible for West Bank attacks that claimed the lives of three Israelis, including a baby.

The armed wing of Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, which has fought three wars with Israel in Gaza since 2008, claimed the two Palestinians as its “fighters”.

One of them was Salah Barghouthi, a 29-year-old accused of shooting seven Israelis on Sunday, also at a bus stop near the Ofra settlement.

The Shin Bet Israeli internal security service said that other members of Barghouthi’s group, all of them affiliated with Hamas, had been arrested overnight.

A woman who was seven months pregnant was among those wounded in that attack.

Doctors tried to save her baby boy with an emergency caesarean but he died on Wednesday and was buried in Jerusalem.

The mother remains in hospital in a serious condition.

The other Palestinian killed by Israeli forces on Wednesday night had been suspected of shooting dead two Israelis in October.

Ashraf Naalwa, 23, was killed when forces tried to arrest him near Nablus in the West Bank, Israel’s Shin Bet security service said.

In another incident Thursday morning, a Palestinian stabbed two Israeli border guards in Jerusalem’s Old City before being shot dead.

The violence came amid heightened tensions in the West Bank, with a former head of Shin Bet’s intelligence and research division saying it appeared to be a “new front” opened by Gaza’s rulers Hamas.

While Abbas’ forces control Palestinian cities in the West Bank, some Hamas cells continue to operate.

Since Sunday’s attack, Israeli forces have made a series of incursions into central Ramallah, where Abbas’ Palestinian Authority is based.

Abbas himself condemned the anti-Israeli attacks but highlighted Israeli raids as a potential cause of anger.

“The climate created by the policy of repeated intrusions into the cities, the provocations against the sovereignty of the president and the lack of a horizon for peace are what led to this unacceptable series of violence that we condemn and reject,” he said.

Hebrew posters have been pasted in the West Bank over the past week inciting the killing of Abbas.

Speaking on Thursday evening, Netanyahu vowed to legalise “thousands” of housing units built without even Israeli permits.

All housing units are considered illegal under international law and are seen as a major obstacle to peace, but Israel draws a distinction between those it sanctions and those constructed without permission.

“They think they can uproot us from our land, they will not succeed,” he said in a statement.

Netanyahu also said they would seek to destroy the homes of Palestinian attackers within 48 hours.

Israel seized control of the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the 1967 war.

Around 600,000 Israelis now live in housing units there considered illegal by the international community.

Many Palestinians consider violence against Israelis in the West Bank to be a justified response to the growth of housing units on land they see as theirs. </s> The teen remains in a critical condition.The incident took place at the Gush Etzion junction Wednesday in the occupied West Bank, near Bethlehem.According to an Israeli army spokesperson, Fatima Jibrin Taqatqa attempted to drive into a group of soldiers at a bus stop at a junction where civilians were also standing. No Israelis were injured, but a pregnant woman was taken to hospital after she experienced a panic attack, the Magen David Adom ambulance service said an Israeli army spokesperson told Maan News Agency.Video footage of the incident shows a car crossing lanes at speed, and driving towards a group of people at the opposite side of the road. The car then crashes into metal bollards in front of the bus stop.It's unclear at what stage the teenager was shot.Initial reports suggested Taqata, from Beit Fajjar, South of Bethlehem, had been killed, but it's now understood, Alaqsa Voice reports According to Palestinian media,, Amjad Taqatqa, at the main entrance.The Etzion Junction bus stop has been the scene of other car rammings and shootings. </s> Israeli policemen inspect the scene of a car ramming attack near Hebron, in the occupied West Bank November 26, 2018.

Three Israeli soldiers were wounded, one moderately and two lightly, in a car-ramming attack in the West Bank. The assailant was shot dead by one of the soldiers.

To really understand Israel and the Palestinians - subscribe to Haaretz

The Israel Defense Forces spokesman released a statement saying the attack occurred on Route 60, south of Jerusalem, as road work was underway. The soldiers were taken to a hospital to receive medical care.

Palestinian media outlets named the driver as Ramzi Abu Yabbes, a former prisoner from the Deheisheh refugee camp.

Two months ago an Israeli-American, Ari Fuld, was killed in a stabbing attack at the entrance to a mall near the junction. Fuld shot and moderately wounded the assailant, Khalil Jabarin, a 17-year old Palestinian from the West Bank village of Yatta near Hebron, after he was stabbed.

Fuld was taken to Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem with injuries to his upper body before succumbing to his wounds. Thousands attended Fuld's funeral in Kfar Etzion. </s> JERUSALEM (JTA) — Three Israeli soldiers were injured in a suspected car-ramming attack in the West Bank.

The incident on Monday morning took place near the West Bank settlement of Karmei Tzur, located south of the Gush Etzion Junction, which has in the past been the site of many such attacks.

A fourth soldier at the scene of the attack shot the Palestinian driver and “successfully neutralized the terrorist before anyone else was hurt,” the IDF spokesman said.

The Palestinian Maan news agency reported that the driver, identified as Ramzi Abu Yabes, a resident of the Dheisheh refugee camp, was killed by the soldier’s bullet. The report said his wife also was in the car and was injured.

The three soldiers were treated at the scene and then evacuated to hospitals in Jerusalem. One suffered a head injury, the other two were lightly wounded. </s> Four Israeli soldiers were killed when they were run down by a truck in Jerusalem on Sunday in what police were treating as a deliberate attack, a medic at the scene told AFP.

Arie Jaffe, of the United Hatzalah emergency service, said the driver was also killed in the incident in west Jerusalem.

Palestinian security officials in the West Bank city of Ramallah said he was a Palestinian from the east Jerusalem neighbourhood of Jabal Mukaber, close to the scene.

Since October 2015, 247 Palestinians, 40 Israelis, two Americans, a Jordanian, an Eritrean and a Sudanese have been killed in a wave of violence, according to an AFP count.

Most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks, according to Israeli authorities.

Others were shot dead during protests or clashes, while some died in Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip.

Police quoted rescue services as saying that 15 Israelis were injured, one seriously, in Sunday's ramming.

Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the victims were in a group of soldiers alighting from a bus at the promenade, which has a scenic view down onto the Old City.

The bus driver said they had been on a cultural tour of the city.

Rosenfeld said that suddenly the lorry driver "ran his vehicle into them. At this moment of time we have ruled out an accident." </s> Israel locks down Ramallah after two soldiers shot dead

RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories: A Palestinian shot dead two Israeli soldiers at a bus stop in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, the military said, with the army locking down the city of Ramallah amid a manhunt.

The attack came hours after security forces killed two Palestinians, with fears of wider unrest. In another incident, a Palestinian stabbed two Israeli border police in Jerusalem´s Old City before being shot dead, in the bloodiest 24 hours to hit the West Bank and Jerusalem in months. The Israeli army said a Palestinian exited his car at a bus stop near the Ofra settlement in the West Bank before opening fire on soldiers and civilians.

Two soldiers were killed and at least two other people, including another soldier, were wounded, the army said, with the attacker fleeing. An AFP photographer saw two men who appeared to be soldiers lying on the ground, before their bodies were covered up. "We are searching for the terrorist. We will find him," the military said on Twitter.

Following the attack, the army circled the nearby city of Ramallah, home to Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas. Entrances and exits to the city were sealed and the army entered multiple neighbourhoods, AFP correspondents said. Clashes broke out in multiple spots. The shooting came only hours after Israeli forces killed two Palestinians allegedly responsible for West Bank attacks that claimed the lives of three Israelis, including a baby.

The armed wing of Palestinian movement Hamas, which has fought three wars with Israel in Gaza since 2008, claimed the two Palestinians as its "fighters." One of them was Salah Barghouti, a 29-year-old accused of shooting seven Israelis on Sunday, also at a bus stop near the Ofra settlement.

The Shin Bet Israeli internal security service said that other members of Barghouti´s group, all of them affiliated with Hamas, had been arrested overnight. A woman who was seven months pregnant was among those wounded in that attack. Doctors tried to save her baby boy with an emergency caesarean but he died on Wednesday and was laid to rest in Jerusalem. </s> (JTA) – An Israeli soldier was killed and a second injured in a suspected car-ramming attack in the central West Bank.

The attack on Wednesday morning took place at a bus stop near the West Bank settlement of Ofra, located northeast of Ramallah.

The Palestinian driver of the vehicle, a silver Audi, was apprehended by other soldiers on the scene and detained.

He was identified by the Palestinian Maan news agency as Malek Ahmad Moussa Hamed, 23, from the village of Silwad near Ramallah.

The killed soldier was named as Sgt. Elhai Teharlev, 20, from the West Bank settlement of Talmon, who served in the Golani Brigade.

Hamas praised the attack, calling it “a response to Israel’s crimes against the Palestinian people and a direct continuation of its heroism in the al-Quds Intifada,” the wave of violence, mostly stabbing and car ramming attacks that started in October 2015. </s> A Palestinian has stabbed an Israeli man to death at a bus stop near a West Bank settlement before fleeing the scene, officials said.

A Palestinian has stabbed an Israeli man to death at a bus stop near a West Bank settlement before fleeing the scene, officials said.

The Israeli military said an army officer chased the assailant after the stabbing at a bus stop near the entrance to Ariel, hitting the attacker with his vehicle, but the culprit managed to get away.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the Israeli man died as a result of the stabbing wounds shortly thereafter. Israeli media reported that the Palestinian was armed with two knives, and identified the stabbing victim as a father of four. Channel 2 News aired footage from the scene showing the attacker crossing a busy road and then lunging at the man, taking him by surprise.

The Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered his condolences and said security forces are “currently chasing the murderers”. Last month, an Israeli was killed in a drive-by shooting near a settlement outpost in the West Bank.

Palestinians seek the West Bank, which Israel captured in the 1967 war, as part of their future state. Most of the international community views Israeli settlements there as illegal and an obstacle to peace. Israel said the fate of settlements must be resolved through negotiations. There has been a spike in Palestinian violence since US president Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital on December 6. The move sparked outrage across the Muslim world, where it was seen as the US taking Israel’s side on the most contentious issue of the decades-old conflict.

Palestinian demonstrators have clashed with Israeli troops in the West Bank and along the Gaza-Israeli border, and 19 Palestinians have been killed in the violence since Mr Trump’s announcement.
Two Israeli soldiers are killed and two others seriously wounded after a shooting at a bus stop in the Jewish settlement of Giv'at Asaf, West Bank.