Israeli woman shot dead in attack on car in southern West Bank

The car was hit by gunfire from a passing vehicle was it drove along a highway

An Israeli woman has been killed and a man seriously wounded in a suspected Palestinian shooting attack on a car near Hebron in the occupied West Bank.

Two dozen bullets were reportedly fired from a passing vehicle on a highway close to the settlement of Beit Hagai.

The woman has been named as Batsheva Nigri. A girl who was also in the car, said to be her daughter, was unharmed.

The Israeli military said its soldiers were pursuing the suspects and that roadblocks had been set up in the area.

Palestinian media reported they had encircled Hebron and were questioning Palestinians trying to enter or leave the city.

Ms Nigri was a mother of three and nursery teacher who lived in Beit Hagai, according to Israeli media.

She and her 12-year-old daughter had hitched a ride to their home from the man driving the car, reports said.

The Palestinian militant group Hamas praised the attack, calling it a "natural response" to Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank.

Later, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the scene and said Israel was "in the midst of a terror attack" that was "encouraged, guided, funded by Iran and its satellite states".

Meanwhile, the Palestinian health ministry said six Palestinians were shot and wounded by Israeli forces in the village of Beita, in the northern West Bank. One person who was hit in the head was in a critical condition in hospital, it added.

A video circulated online appeared to show a man being shot in the back of the head while he runs away from Israeli troops.

It comes amid another spike in violence in the West Bank.

On Saturday, an Israeli man and his son were shot dead by a suspected Palestinian gunman at a car wash near the northern village of Hawara.

On Friday, Israeli forces shot a 15-year-old Palestinian boy in the head in occupied East Jerusalem, leaving him seriously wounded. Police alleged he had tried to throw a petrol bomb during a raid in the Silwan area.

Elsewhere that day, video showed an apparently unarmed Palestinian man said to suffer from mental health problems being shot in the leg by Israeli troops during a protest near Israel's separation barrier in Qalqilya.

There have been dozens of Israeli army raids into Palestinian cities this year as well as violence by Israeli settlers targeting Palestinian homes and Palestinian attacks on Israelis.

Update 22 August 2023: This story has been updated to say that Batsheva Nigri's daughter was 12 years old and not six, as initial reports stated.