Israel's military on Wednesday killed three members of a "terrorist cell" in a rare drone strike in the occupied West Bank, the army said, further escalating the deadly violence that has roiled the territory in recent days.
The drone strike, believed to be the first in the area in nearly 20 years, marked a major escalation by Israel in a more than year-long campaign against militants in the area.
"IDF soldiers identified a terrorist cell inside a suspicious vehicle, after the cell carried out a shooting adjacent to the town of Jalamah," a statement from the Israeli military said.
"Following the identification of the terrorist cell, an IDF UAV fired toward the cell and thwarted them," the statement added.
Palestinian media confirmed that three people were killed in the strike. A spokesman for the Hamas militant group said the killings would not go unpunished.
The strike came hours after hundreds of Israeli settlers stormed into a Palestinian town, setting fire to dozens of cars and homes to avenge the deaths of four Israelis killed in a Palestinian shooting the previous day.
Tuesday's shooting was itself an apparent reprisal for an Israeli military raid on Monday that killed seven Palestinians.
Settler rampages
Wednesday's settler rampage came as the Israeli military deployed additional forces in the occupied West Bank, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced plans to build 1,000 new settler homes.
Palestinian residents and human rights groups have long complained about Israel's inability or refusal to halt settler violence.
Residents in the town of Turmus Ayya said some 400 Israeli settlers marched down the town's main road, setting fire to cars, homes and trees.
Palestinian officials said one man was killed in the clashes, which the army tried to disperse by firing rubber bullets and tear gas.
The settler attack brought back memories of a rampage last February in which dozens of cars and homes were torched in the town of Hawara following the killing of a pair of Israeli brothers by a Palestinian gunman.
A US State Department spokesman described the reports of Wednesday's settler rampage as "troubling", adding that Washington was "deeply concerned" by the rising violence in the West Bank.
Teen funerals
The latest burst of violence came hours after mourners held a funeral for a teenager killed in Tuesday's shooting targeting Israelis, while Palestinians buried a girl killed in the Israeli raid on Monday.
In the Israeli settlement of Shilo, hundreds attended the funeral of 17-year-old Nachman Mordoff, one of four Israelis killed when gunmen attacked a petrol station.
Meanwhile in Jenin, girls in school uniform carried the body of their classmate killed in the Israeli raid on the city on Monday.
Sadeel Naghniyeh, 15, died from gunshot wounds suffered during the hours-long Israeli incursion, the Palestinian health ministry said on Wednesday.
Six other Palestinians, including a 15-year-old boy and a militant, were killed in the raid.
>> Read more: Israeli helicopters fire missiles in massive West Bank gunbattle
Israel has occupied the West Bank since the Six-Day War of 1967. Excluding annexed east Jerusalem, the territory is now home to around 490,000 Israelis who live in settlements considered illegal under international law.
The surge in violence linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict so far this year has killed at least 170 Palestinians, 25 Israelis, a Ukrainian and an Italian.
The tally compiled from official sources includes combatants as well as civilians and, on the Israeli side, three members of the Arab minority.
(FRANCE 24 with AP, Reuters, AFP)
