A Palestinian gunman killed two Israelis as they were driving in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, sparking attacks by Israeli settlers on houses and cars which killed one Palestinian, according to officials.
The fighting came as Israeli and Palestinian officials met in Jordan to discuss ways of lowering tensions.
Israel's military said Sunday's shooting happened when a gunman "opened fire towards an Israeli vehicle" near Hawara, near Nablus, and those killed were brothers from Har Bracha, a settlement 8 kilometres away.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
The military said one of the dead men was a soldier in a program for Jewish seminary students.
After the shooting, Palestinians reported Israelis from a nearby settlement attacked Palestinian houses in the area.
A 37-year-old Palestinian was shot dead by an Israeli settler, the Palestinian officials said.
Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian official in charge of anti-settlement activities, said several Palestinian houses and 15 cars had been set on fire.
Palestinian media said some 30 homes and cars were torched. Photos and video on social media showed large fires burning throughout the town of Hawara and lighting up the sky.
The Israeli military, which was operating in the area, did not have any immediate comment.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he held the Israeli government fully responsible for the attacks.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said soldiers were pursuing the Hawara gunman, and the military said it had blocked off the area.
"I ask, even when the blood is boiling, not to take the law into one's hands," Mr Netanyahu said.
"I ask that the IDF [Israeli military] and the security forces be allowed to carry out their work."
European Union envoy to the Middle East Sven Koopmans said he was "alarmed by the spiral of violence" and called on all authorities to "act to end bloodshed and impunity immediately and prevent further losses".
Eleven Palestinians were killed and more than 100 were wounded last week during an Israeli military raid in Nablus.
The military said its soldiers shot back after coming under fire while trying to arrest militants in the city.
More than 200 Palestinians and more than 40 Israelis have been killed in violence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since tensions began rising last year.
Israel says its incursions in the West Bank are meant to dismantle militant networks and thwart future attacks. The Palestinians say they further entrench Israel's 55-year, open-ended occupation of lands they seek for their future state.
Some 700,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The international community overwhelmingly considers the settlements as illegal and obstacles to peace.
Reuters/ABC/AP
