Israeli settlers shoot, wound 2 Palestinians in West Bank

Israeli settlers shot and seriously wounded two Palestinians in the northern occupied West Bank early Friday, Palestinian health officials said, in what authorities describe as the latest incident in a wave of settler violence.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said the two wounded Palestinians were being treated at a hospital in the village of Qusra, near the West Bank city of Nablus. It did not identify the men.
A group of armed settlers from a nearby outpost descended on the village and Palestinians went into the street to see what was happening late Thursday, said Ghassan Douglas, the Palestinian official who monitors Israeli settlements in the Nablus region. One of the settlers opened fire at the residents, hitting one man in the s tomach and another in the thigh. Douglas said the shooting was unprovoked.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli police or the Israeli military.
The northern West Bank in particular has seen a surge of settler attacks. Many villages in the area have gradually become sandwiched between settlements and unauthorized outposts that house particularly ideological settlers.