Israeli woman shot dead in attack on car in southern West Bank

An Israeli woman has been killed and a man seriously wounded when their car was shot at south of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, officials say.

Two dozen bullets were reportedly fired from a passing vehicle on a highway near the settlement of Beit Hagai.

The woman has been named as Batsheva Nagari. A girl who was also in the car, said to be her daughter, was unharmed.

The Israeli military said its soldiers were pursuing the suspects and that roadblocks had been set up in the area.

Palestinian media reported they had encircled Hebron and were questioning Palestinians trying to enter or leave the city.

Ms Nigri was a mother of three and nursery teacher who lived in Beit Hagai, according to Israeli media.

She and her six-year-old daughter had hitched a ride to their home from the man driving the car, reports said.

The Palestinian militant group Hamas praised the attack, calling it a "natural response" to Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank.

It comes amid another spike in violence in the West Bank.

On Saturday, an Israeli man and his son were shot dead by a suspected Palestinian gunman at a car wash near the northern village of Huwara.

On Friday, Israeli forces shot a 15-year-old Palestinian boy in the head in occupied East Jerusalem, leaving him seriously wounded. Police alleged he had tried to throw a petrol bomb during a raid in the Silwan area.

Elsewhere that day, video showed an apparently unarmed Palestinian man said to suffer from mental health problems being shot in the leg by Israeli troops during a protest near Israel's separation barrier in Qalqilya.

There have been dozens of Israeli army raids into Palestinian cities this year as well as violence by Israeli settlers targeting Palestinian homes and Palestinian attacks on Israelis,