<div style="text-align: justify; "><b style="font-size: 1rem;">An Israeli-American has been shot and killed in the occupied West Bank as retaliatory unrest intensifies.</b><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The man was killed in an attack on vehicles on a highway near the city of Jericho.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The shooting happened after Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian villages in the West Bank on Sunday night, with dozens of cars and houses burned.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">That attack came after two settlers, from a nearby village, were shot dead by a Palestinian on Sunday.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Israeli-American man killed near Jericho was taken by paramedics to a hospital in Jerusalem, but was later pronounced dead.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">US Ambassador Tom Nides tweeted: "Sadly, I can confirm that a US citizen was killed in one of the terror attacks in the West Bank tonight. I pray for his family."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Israeli Defence Forces said attackers opened fire on Israeli vehicles on three occasions, and later set their own vehicles on fire.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There was an exchange of fire with police before the attackers fled, the IDF tweeted.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There was no immediate claim of responsibility by any Palestinian groups.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Islamist movement Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip but is less prominent in the West Bank, said the attack was a natural response to Israeli attacks.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"The crimes conducted by the occupation and the herds of settlers will not be met but with stabbing, shooting and car ramming," a spokesman said in a statement.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The violence came after Israeli and Palestinian officials had pledged to de-escalate tensions at a summit in Jordan.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Videos posted hours after the summit ended on Sunday showed a large crowd of Israeli settlers entering the village of Hawara, about 4 miles (6km) south of Nablus, lighting fires and throwing stones.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Palestinian health ministry said 37-year-old Sameh Aqtash died after being shot in the stomach during an attack by settlers in Zaatara on Sunday night.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This part of the West Bank falls under full Israeli control, and Palestinians criticised Israeli security forces for failing to protect them.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he held the Israeli government fully responsible for what he called "the terrorist acts carried out by Israeli settlers, under the protection of the Israeli occupation forces".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, appealed for calm and urged settlers to allow the Israeli military and security forces to focus on finding the gunman who killed the two Israelis.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"I ask that when blood is boiling and the spirit is hot, don't take the law into your hands," he said in a video statement.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Settlers had called for a march to Hawara in order to "seek revenge" for the deadly attack on Hillel and Yagel Yaniv, who lived in the settlement of Har Bracha, which is 1.2 miles south of Nablus.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The brothers were driving through Hawara when a Palestinian man rammed their car and then shot them both several times.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">No Palestinian militant group has so far claimed they were behind the attack, but the gunman was reportedly wearing a shirt bearing the insignia of the Nablus-based Lions' Den.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Members of the group were the targets of an Israeli raid in Nablus last Wednesday in which 11 Palestinians, including several civilians, were killed - the deadliest such operation in the West Bank since 2005.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Israeli forces have been carrying out waves of search, arrest and intelligence-gathering raids in Nablus and the nearby city of Jenin, saying they are trying to stem the spate of deadly attacks against Israelis by Palestinians.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Since the start of this year, more than 60 Palestinians - militants and civilians - have been killed by Israeli forces. On the Israeli side, 14 people have been killed in attacks - all civilians, except for a paramilitary police officer.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">More than 600,000 Jews live in 140 settlements built since Israel's occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Most of the international community considers the settlements illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this. BBC</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>