Two Israelis killed in West Bank shooting

Palestinian gunmen have killed two Israelis and wounded three others in a drive-by shooting on a minivan transporting kindergarten teachers to Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

The shooting happened this morning in the Jordan Valley when the occupants of a Palestinian-registered car opened fire on the van with automatic weapons.

The driver and a female teacher are believed to have been killed, while three other female teachers were injured.

The shooting is believed to be retaliation for an Israeli missile attack on the offices of Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement in Ramallah yesterday.

Nobody was injured in yesterday’s attack, when Israeli helicopters fired three missiles at the Fatah offices, causing severe damage to the building.

Marwan Barghouti, the leader of the Tanzim militia, which is affiliated with Fatah, vowed to take vengeance for the strike, which is believed to have been an assassination attempt against a senior Fatah official who had left the building just minutes earlier.

Meanwhile, Israeli soldiers have killed one Palestinian and injured another in the northern Gaza Strip.

The Israeli army has not revealed the circumstances surrounding the shooting.