JERUSALEM – On Tuesday, Israeli forces shot and killed two Palestinians suspected of carrying out attacks that left three Israelis injured in the occupied West Bank.

This incident marks another surge in the ongoing violence that has escalated in the region over recent weeks.

The Israeli military reported that troops fatally shot a suspect who stabbed two soldiers during an altercation near Ateret, an Israeli settlement located in the central West Bank. The military stated that the situation is currently under investigation.

According to Israel’s Mada rescue service, the two soldiers sustained minor injuries. Meanwhile, in the southern West Bank, the army stated that they shot and killed a Palestinian involved in a car-ramming attack that injured a female soldier.

The military explained that as they attempted to arrest the man near Hebron, he allegedly posed a threat to the soldiers, prompting them to shoot him as he tried to escape.

The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the suspect as a 17-year-old resident of Hebron.

In a statement late Monday, Hamas celebrated the ramming attack near Hebron, saying that it came “in the context of the legitimate response of our people” to Israel’s ongoing raids in the West Bank. The militant group didn’t claim the attack.

The Israeli army has stepped up its activities in the West Bank since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack triggered the war in Gaza.

Israel says the offensive is aimed at rooting out militants. But Palestinians say scores of stone throwers, protesters and uninvolved civilians have been killed.

In recent weeks, the West Bank has experienced a surge in settler violence against Palestinian civilians. Meanwhile, Palestinian assailants killed an Israeli man in a stabbing and car ramming attack last month.