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Scene of the shooting attack near Othniel settlement in the West Bank, November 13, 2015. Credit: Magen David Adom

Paramedics evacuate a 16-year-old boy wounded in the shooting. Credit: Eliyahu Hershkovitz
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BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Two Israeli settlers were shot dead and another injured in a shooting attack on their car in the south Hebron hills in the southern occupied West Bank on Friday, Israel's army said.

An Israeli army spokesperson said shots were fired at their vehicle, with the perpetrator fleeing the scene.

Media reports said that a Palestinian suspect exited his vehicle before firing on the car, reportedly carrying a family of seven, near the illegal Otniel settlement west of Yatta. The suspect then got back into his vehicle and fled the area.

The victims were said to be an 18-year-old and a man in his forties, while a 16-year-old was lightly injured on the foot by gun fire.
Four others were taken to the Soroka medical center for treatment for shock.

Israeli forces began searching for the suspect, and closed all entrances and roads leading to the site of the attack and closed the entrances to the nearby al-Fawwar refugee camp, Dura, and al-Dhahiriya.

Twelve Israelis have been killed in attacks by Palestinian individuals since the start of last month, the majority in occupied Palestinian territory in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Eight-two Palestinians have been killed in the same time period.
Friday's shooting attack came shortly before Israeli forces shot 23-year-old Hassan Jihad al-Baw, in the heart during clashes in the Hebron area, killing him immediately.

Al-Baw was the second Palestinian to die on Friday. Earlier in the day, Issa al-Shalaldah, 22, succumbed to his injuries in the al-Ahli hospital a day after being shot by Israeli forces during clashes.
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by Chaim Levinson, Gili Cohen , Almog Ben Zikri and Barak Ravid for Haaretz

An Israeli man and his son were killed in a shooting attack south of Hebron in the West Bank on Friday afternoon.

The two, aged 40 and 18, were driving with five other family members to a family event in the southern town Meitar. At around 3 P.M. a shooter ambushed their vehicle near the settlement of Othniel in the southern Hebron hills area. Two other passengers, a woman and a 16-year-old male, were lightly and moderately wounded, and were rushed to to Soroka Medical Center, Be'er Sheva.

The shooter is believed to have been waiting on the side of the road for an Israeli vehicle to drive by, and fled by car after the shooting. A preliminary investigation found that 14 bullets were fired at the family car. Large army forces were combing the area in search for the shooter, with the search now focusing on the Palestinian towns of Yatta and Dhahiriya.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said following the attack: "We'll get to those despicable murderers and will prosecute them like we have done in the past."
 
Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon decided to deploy additional forces in the area following a meeting with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot, Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen, Military Intelligence head Maj. Gen. Herzi Levi and Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories Maj. Gen. Poli Mordechai. Soldiers from the infantry Golani Brigade training base will be deployed there on Saturday, joining the seven IDF battalions already operating in the Hebron area.

Islamist militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad praised the attack as a "natural response to crimes conducted by the Israeli occupation."

Last Friday, two shootings took place in the Hebron area. Near the village of Beit Anoun, north east of Hebron, a soldier was seriously wounded by gunfire, only a short time after two Israelis aged 18 and 16 were lightly and moderately wounded by a sniper near the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron. 

Earlier on Friday, a 22-year-old Palestinian died a day after suffering wounds during clashes with Israeli forces near Hebron. Palestinian sources also reported four were wounded Friday during clashes with Israeli forces in the same area.