After Palestinian attack, Israel launches crackdown in W. Bank

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Israel’s military launched a West Bank manhunt Thursday, setting up checkpoints and blocking roads, after a Palestinian gunman killed two Israeli soldiers at a bus stop outside a West Bank settlement and sped away.

The shooting added to a deadly week that claimed seven lives, including an Israeli newborn, a 60year- old Palestinian businessman and three Palestinian assailants, two of them members of the Islamic militant Hamas.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would “settle accounts” with Thursday’s attackers, while Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas held Israel responsible for what he said was a violent environment.

Netanyahu also said he would legalize thousands of existing West Bank settlement homes whose status was in question.