Relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages taken captive in the Gaza Strip by Hamas raise flags and placards as they protest outside the prime minister's office in Jerusalem on Sunday — AFP JERUSALEM, Sept 01 (AP/AFP): Palestinian fighters killed three Israeli police officers on Sunday when they opened fire on a vehicle in the occupied West Bank, where Israel has carried out large-scale raids in recent days.
The attack took place along a road in the southern West Bank. The raids have mainly been focused on urban refugee camps in the northern part of the territory, where Israeli forces have traded fire with militants on a near-daily basis since the outbreak of the war in Gaza.
The police confirmed that all three killed were officers and said the assailants slipped away. A little-known militant group calling itself the Khalil al-Rahman Brigade claimed responsibility. Hamas praised the attack as a "natural response" to the war in Gaza and called for more.
The West Bank has seen a surge in violence since Hamas' Oct. 7 attack out of Gaza ignited the war there.
Over 650 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank, mainly during Israeli military arrest raids. Most appear to have been militants involved in gunbattles with Israeli forces, but civilian bystanders and rock-throwing protesters have also been killed.
Gaza parents rush to
vaccinate kids
Ghadir Hajji rushed to a clinic on Sunday in hopes her five children would be among the first to get vaccinated against polio, which has re-emerged in war-ravaged Gaza.
"They absolutely have to be vaccinated," she told AFP as the family waited in line for a vaccine drive announced after health officials reported last month the first case of polio in the besieged territory in a quarter of a century.
"We received text messages from the ministry of health and we showed up right away."
She was joined by thousands of other Gazans whose fear of polio-which is highly contagious and potentially fatal-despite concerns for their personal security and rumours the vaccine would not be safe or effective.
Poliovirus is highly infectious and most often spread through sewage and contaminated water-an increasingly common problem in Gaza with much of the territory's infrastructure destroyed by Israel in its war against Hamas.
Israel PM vows 'to settle score'
after hostage deaths
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Sunday to "settle the score" with Hamas after the military had recovered the bodies of six hostages from a Gaza tunnel.
"Those who kill hostages do not want an agreement" for a Gaza truce, Netanyahu said in a statement, telling Hamas leaders that "we will hunt you down, we will catch you and we will settle the score".
Netanyahu also accused Hamas of carrying out a shooting attack earlier on Sunday near the city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank.
"We are fighting on all fronts against a cruel enemy who wants to murder us all. Just this morning, he murdered three policemen in Hebron," he said, referring to Hamas.
"The fact that Hamas continues to commit atrocities such as those it committed on October 7 obliges us to do everything we can to ensure that it can no longer do so."
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