Israel isolates Palestinian villages after 'lone wolf' shooting

Israeli forces closed a number of Palestinian roads in Salfit district, in the central West Bank on Sunday following a shooting incident outside an illegal settlement.

The forces closed the entrance roads leading to the villages of Bidia, Qarawat Bani Hassan, Sarta and Mesaha. Palestinians are banned from entering and exiting the area, according to Palestinian Authority’s official news agency WAFA.

The move came after two Israeli settlers were killed and another was wounded after being shot by a "lone wolf" attacker, the Israeli army said on Sunday.

Army spokesman Jonathan Conricus said the 23-year-old Palestinian had worked in the illegal Barkan industrial zone, where the attack took place in the occupied West Bank.

Security forces were searching for the Palestinian.

Conricus called it a "terrorist attack" but added that other unspecified factors were involved.

The Palestinian used a homemade gun in the attack, known locally as a Carlo, according to Conricus.

He said it appeared it was a "lone-wolf attack".

The industrial zone is located next to Israeli settlement Barkan and near the settlement of Ariel in the north of the West Bank.

A wave of Palestinian attacks against Israelis broke out in 2015, but they have since become sporadic.

Israel has occupied the West Bank illegally since 1967, committing various crimes against Palestinian civilians.

More than 600,000 Israeli Jews live in settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, in constructions considered illegal under international law.

Along with stealing land, occupying Israeli forces and settlers routinely torment Palestinians in various ways, which lead way for additional attacks which are viewed as retallliation for brutal occuaption by Palestinains who carry them out.

Agencies contributed to this report.

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