00:00 Well, just two days ago, two Israelis were killed by a gunman in the northern West Bank.
00:04 Since the start of the year, 180 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the territory.
00:09 Well, let's get the latest from France 24's Linda Gradstein, who joins us from Jerusalem.
00:14 Linda, just tell us what happened this morning.
00:16 So the couple, a couple around 40 years old, her name is Batsheva Negri,
00:22 and she was in the car with her husband and their six-year-old child.
00:26 They actually have three children, and were driving on Route 60, which is the main road
00:30 that goes through the West Bank, when somebody, apparently a Palestinian, fired 22 rounds at
00:37 their car, hitting both the husband and wife.
00:40 The child in the back of the car was apparently unharmed.
00:43 Both of them were treated, but the wife died, and the husband is still in serious condition.
00:49 And the fact that it's a woman, first of all, and the fact that it's the second attack in just,
00:55 in three days, I think has made people very angry and somewhat fearful.
01:00 And there's a sense that this is just sort of continuous and that things are getting worse.
01:05 Indeed, as you say, just the latest in a series of violent attacks, a real cycle of
01:11 violence there. And I'm just wondering what the reaction's been from the government?
01:14 So, well, some of the hardliners in the government attacked the Israeli defence minister and said
01:22 that his policy towards the Palestinians has been more lenient.
01:26 They called for soldiers to set up roadblocks all over the West Bank.
01:30 Right now there's a manhunt going on for the shooter, who they fear could have sort of
01:36 disappeared into the town of Hebron.
01:38 Hebron is in the southern West Bank.
01:40 The attacks two days ago were in the northern West Bank, and most of the attacks have been
01:44 in the northern West Bank.
01:45 So there's some concern as well that it could be spreading throughout the West Bank.
01:51 Israel has sent thousands of soldiers to the West Bank, both to, you know, try to find
01:56 the perpetrators and also to stop potential revenge attacks by Jewish settlers.
02:01 In the past, when there have been these kinds of killings and Israelis have been killed,
02:06 Jewish settlers have rampaged in Palestinian towns and villages.
02:10 So one of the reasons for having a lot of soldiers there is to stop these revenge attacks.
02:16 But the Islamist Hamas movement welcomed the attack, and, you know, it's just sort of part
02:22 of a cycle of violence.
02:23 But there was a sense that things had been relatively quiet in the last month or two,
02:28 and now they've kind of taken off again.
02:30 And it just makes people feel a little bit nervous and a little bit unsure of themselves.
02:35 OK, well, thank you very much indeed for that, Linda Gradstein in Jerusalem.
02:39 Thank you.
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