Palestinian gunman kills one in Hebron settlement, is shot dead

HEBRON, West Bank (Reuters) -A Palestinian gunman killed one person and wounded at least three others in a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank before being shot dead by a guard, the Israeli military, medics and a settlement spokesperson said.

The Islamist militant group Hamas claimed the slain Hebron gunman as its member.

Itamar Ben-Gvir, a far-right politician from the settlement whose Religious Zionism party is projected to place third in Israel’s election on Tuesday, was unharmed.

“I say to these terrorists, if they think that threats, that attempted murder will deter me – it won’t help you. I am pressing ahead,” Ben-Gvir told Israel’s Channel 12 TV.

Violence in the West Bank, among territories where Palestinians seek statehood, has escalated since Israeli forces launched a crackdown in March in response to a string of attacks by Palestinians within Israel.

A settlement spokesperson said four Jews were wounded in the shooting near a checkpoint in Hebron, where hundreds of settlers live in an uneasy standoff among hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.

One of those casualties, a middle-aged man, was later declared dead. It was not immediately clear if he held Israeli citizenship.

Israel’s Magen David Adom ambulance service said a Palestinian had also been lightly wounded in the incident.

The Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance service said one of its crew members in Hebron was hit in the shoulder by Israeli gunfire. The Israeli military had no immediate comment on that.

(Writing by Dan Williams and Nidal al-Mughrabi;Editing by Alison Williams and Chris Reese)