West Bank shooting: One Israeli killed and another wounded after Palestinian opens fire

One Israeli was killed and another wounded when a Palestinian gunman opened fire on them at a beauty spot near a West Bank settlement on Friday.

Danny Gonen, a 25-year-old student from the central Israeli town of Lod, was named as the fatality in the attack which happened at the Ein Buvin spring, close to the settlement of Dolev near Ramallah.

Gonen and his friend were attacked when they were stopped by a Palestinian by the side of the road, who asked them whether there was water in the spring. According to the wounded Israeli - also in his 20s - the Palestinian pulled out a gun and shot them. It was the first such attack in a year.

Paramedics said: "We immediately begun providing lifesaving medical care and attempted resuscitation."

The Israeli army said it suspected the shooter had fled to a nearby village and that they were "trying to track down the terrorists with intelligence".

"This is a terrorist attack. It could be characteristic of Hamas, or it could be a lone attacker. One doesn't need very much to carry out such a terror attack," a security source was quoted as saying in the Jerusalem Post.

He added that Israelis who wanted to travel to the spring usually had to co-ordinate their visit with the authorities. However, he said, the victims appeared unaware of this.

Condemnation in Israel

The attack drew sharp condemnation in Israel.

President Reuven Rivlin said: "The murderous attack... is another step in the quiet and serious escalation in acts of terrorism we have witnessed in recent months. We will not accept a situation in which a young hiker has his life taken from him in the Land of Israel, because he is Jewish. Security forces will work tirelessly to bring to justice those responsible for this cruel and brutal act."

He added that he expected to hear "clear and decisive condemnation of such criminal acts from both the Arab leadership, which bears responsibility for actions of terrorism emanating from its territory, as well as from the leaders of the Arab community in Israel".

And education minister Naftali Bennett, of the nationalist-religious Jewish Home party, said: "At a time when the world is busy boycotting Jews, the Palestinians are busy killing them.

"There is a symbiotic connection of terror between the two. The Palestinians are continuing to distance themselves from the family of nations, as a society that promotes murder and terror."

Hamas welcomes attack

Hamas welcomed the attack, however, "irrespective of [the gunman's] organisational affiliation".

"The occupation is deluded if it thinks that it can predict the reactions of the Palestinian people in the West Bank, whether it's by an individual or an organised group," said Hamas spokesman Hassam Badran, according to Haaretz.