Palestinian militants kill three Israeli policemen in the West Bank

JERUSALEM (AP) — Palestinian militants killed three Israeli police officers Sunday when they opened fire on a vehicle in the occupied West Bank, where Israel has deployed large-scale raids in the last days.

The attack took place along a road in the southern West Bank. The raids mainly focused on urban refugee camps in the northern part of the territory, where Israeli forces have exchanged fire with militants almost daily since the outbreak of the Gaza war.

Police confirmed all three killed were officers and said the attackers escaped. A little-known militant group calling itself the Khalil al-Rahman Brigade claimed responsibility. Hamas praised the attack as a “natural response” to the war in Gaza and called for more.

The West Bank has seen an increase in violence since the October 7 Hamas attack in Gaza sparked the war there.

More than 650 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank, mainly during Israeli army arrest raids. Most appear to have been militants engaged in clashes with Israeli forces, but civilian bystanders and stone-throwing protesters were also killed.

The last 10 months have also been seen an increase in settler violence directed at Palestinians and in Palestinian attacks on Israelis.

Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war. The Palestinians want all three territories for their future state, but the last serious peace talks collapsed more than 15 years ago.

Israel has built more than 100 settlements in the West Bank, some of which resemble suburbs and small towns. More than 500,000 settlers with Israeli citizenship live in the settlements, which most of the international community considers illegal.

The 3 million Palestinians in the West Bank live under seemingly unlimited Israeli military rule, with The Western-backed Palestinian Authority exercising a limited autonomy in population centers.

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