Netanyahu warns Hamas after deadly West Bank attacks

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had issued a warning to Hamas after recent deadly attacks in the occupied West Bank, including two shootings claimed by the Islamist movement.

Netanyahu referred to a controversial Gaza ceasefire in November that ended the worst escalation between Israel and Hamas since a 2014 war.

“I conveyed a clear message to Hamas – we won’t accept a situation of a truce in Gaza and terror in Judea and Samaria,” Netanyahu told a cabinet meeting, using the biblical name for the West Bank, as is Israel’s official policy. Hamas runs the Gaza Strip but also has a presence in the West Bank.

Netanyahu’s comments came after two soldiers were shot dead at a central West Bank bus station near a settlement on Thursday.

On the same day, a baby prematurely delivered after his mother was shot and wounded in a separate attack nearby on Dec 9 also died.

Hamas claimed responsibility for the Dec 9 shooting and another in the West Bank on Oct 7 that killed two Israelis.

The two Palestinians behind those attacks were shot dead by Israeli forces during arrest raids last week, Israeli officials said.

Israel’s security forces say they have also arrested at least 37 Hamas operatives in connection with recent violence.

The attacks came after a deal to restore relative calm to the Gaza Strip that included Israel enabling Qatar to bring fuel and tens of millions of dollars to the besieged territory for salaries. — AFP