The event continued a cycle of violence that has convulsed the region and left a long list of dead, in the worst fighting between Israel and the Palestinians in the West Bank in almost two decades.
The Israeli army said the man fired at a car from another moving vehicle. Three people were injured, including a 35-year-old with gunshot wounds who was in serious but stable condition, according to the Israeli rescue service, MDA. Two girls ages 9 and 14 sustained minor injuries from flying debris.
Israel reported that the military detained the alleged gunman in the city of Bethlehem and confiscated his car and an assault rifle. Troops arrested two other suspects, the army said.
The Palestinian armed group Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, praised the attack but did not take responsibility for it.
Clashes between Israel and the Palestinians in the West Bank intensified early last year when Israel began making almost nightly raids on Palestinian towns in the West Bank in response to a series of Palestinian attacks on Israelis.
Violence has intensified this year. So far in 2023, more than 150 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, according to a count by The Associated Press.
Israel says most of the dead were militants, but youth stone-throwers protesting the incursions and people not taking part in the confrontations have also been killed.
At least 26 people have been killed in Palestinian attacks on Israelis in that period.
Israel says the raids are crucial to dismantling militant networks and thwarting future attacks. The Palestinians, for their part, see the violence as a natural response to 56 years of occupation, the acceleration of settlements by the Israeli government and increasing violence by Jewish settlers.
Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Six-Day War along with the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. The Palestinians claim those territories to form an independent state.
FOUNTAIN: Associated Press
