West Bank: 3 Israeli police killed in shooting attack

The operation, coinciding with continued fierce fighting in Gaza despite ceasefire talks, has drawn international calls for a halt.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said three policemen had been in the vehicle and were killed in Sunday’s attack.

“We are fighting on all fronts against a cruel enemy who wants to murder us all,” Netanyahu said, also referring to six Israeli hostages killed in captivity in Gaza and whose bodies were recovered from a tunnel on Sunday.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a hardline member of Israel’s security cabinet, called for more action against Palestinian militants in the West Bank.

“We need to do now what we didn’t do that awful night and launch a pre-emptive strike and strike terrorism hard,” he said, referring to Hamas’ deadly October 7 attack on Israel.

“We are committed to eliminating terrorism on all fronts,” he said, speaking from the scene of Sunday’s attack.

Israel’s ambulance service had initially said two people had been killed and a third critically wounded.

Hamas, which is fighting a war with Israel in Gaza, praised the attack in the West Bank but did not claim it, saying it was a “natural response to the massacres and genocide in the Gaza Strip”.

“We call on all those who carry weapons to direct their bullets at the chests of the occupiers who continue to commit massacres against our people in Gaza Strip,” the statement said.

Israel denies committing acts of genocide in the Gaza war, which was triggered by Hamas’ October 7 strike on Israel.