JERUSALEM — A gunman fatally shot two Israeli civilians on Sunday as they drove by means of a Palestinian city within the Israeli-occupied West Financial institution, at the same time as Israeli, Arab and U.S. officers had been attending a summit in Jordan to debate methods to de-escalate rising tensions within the space.

On the conclusion of the one-day assembly — described by the hosts as the primary of its sort in a few years — the Jordanian authorities and the State Division issued a joint assertion saying the Israeli and Palestinian sides had reaffirmed their dedication to all earlier agreements, in addition to to the necessity to forestall additional violence.

Attended by senior officers from Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Jordan and Egypt, in addition to representatives of the Biden administration, the assembly mirrored a degree of pragmatism on the a part of Israel’s two-month-old authorities, probably the most right-wing and religiously conservative within the nation’s historical past.

It additionally illustrated Washington’s need for understandings to underpin regional calm and to forestall the state of affairs from spiraling uncontrolled.

However there have been few indicators of serious progress, past the truth that the perimeters had met, and one different major final result: Jordan stated the 5 events had agreed to satisfy once more subsequent month, in Egypt earlier than the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

In Israel, the assembly was overshadowed by Sunday’s capturing,  which the Israeli army described as a Palestinian terrorist assault simply south of the town of Nablus, within the northern West Financial institution, and which got here 4 days after a lethal Israeli army raid in that metropolis. The military stated that the raid was geared toward arresting Palestinian gunmen from a neighborhood group that was answerable for killing an Israeli soldier in October and that was planning extra assaults.

The victims of the assault had been brothers, recognized within the Israeli information media as Hillel Yaniv, 22, and Yagel Yaniv, 20, each residents of Har Bracha, a Jewish settlement within the hills above Nablus.

The gunman rammed the brothers’ automotive at a junction alongside the primary street resulting in Nablus and shot them at shut vary, in response to pictures from the scene, witnesses and media stories.

The primary two months of 2023 have been among the many deadliest in years for each Palestinians and Israelis, ensuing from a pointy enhance in daytime army raids which have proved deadly in addition to from a spate of terrorist assaults. The rising violence is what prompted the summit in Jordan forward of Ramadan, which begins in lower than 4 weeks.

Previously, Ramadan has been a time of heightened tensions and feelings which have periodically led to broader Israeli-Palestinian conflagrations.

About 60 Palestinians have been killed within the occupied West Financial institution previously two months, most of them throughout raids and shootouts with the Israeli army. The assault on Sunday introduced the variety of Israelis killed this 12 months by Palestinians to 13. Seven of them had been killed in a mass capturing in late January, the day after a lethal Israeli Military raid left 10 Palestinians lifeless within the northern West Financial institution metropolis of Jenin.

The daytime raid on Wednesday in Nablus set off a four-hour gunfight with Palestinian armed teams that left eight Palestinian militants and two bystanders lifeless, in response to Palestinian officers. The Palestinian Well being Ministry stated {that a} third Palestinian civilian, a 66-year-old man, died at a hospital hours later after inhaling tear fuel throughout the raid.

Israeli arrest raids are sometimes adopted by reprisals from lone Palestinian gunmen, and Palestinian assaults on Israelis typically immediate a spike in violence by settlers towards Palestinians and their property.

Friction within the area has solely intensified since Israel’s new right-wing authorities got here to energy on the finish of 2022, which was additionally a bloody 12 months, with the rise of native Palestinian armed teams and a wave of assaults towards Israelis within the spring. The brand new authorities finally helps annexing all the territory of the West Financial institution and has promised a extra aggressive method towards Palestinian assailants.

An Israeli parliamentary committee managed by the federal government on Sunday superior a invoice calling for Israeli courts to have the ability to impose the demise penalty on folks convicted of homicide in instances of political violence towards Israeli residents. The committee determined that after a preliminary vote in Parliament, the textual content of the invoice can be referred to the safety cupboard for additional dialogue.

“We are going to proceed to behave by all means — safety, operational and legislative — to discourage terrorists and to protect the safety of Israel,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated in a press release of the committee’s resolution. The invoice was sponsored by Jewish Energy, a far-right social gathering within the governing coalition led by the ultranationalist Itamar Ben-Gvir, the minister for nationwide safety who was convicted previously for incitement of anti-Arab racism and help for a terrorist group.

Sunday’s assertion issued by Jordan and the USA stated Israel had dedicated to not talk about the development of recent settlement homes for a interval of 4 months, and to not authorize any new settlement outposts for a interval of six months. However Mr. Netanyahu’s workplace already introduced per week in the past that it had knowledgeable the USA that it will maintain off authorizing any extra Jewish settlement outposts within the coming months.

That announcement explicitly excluded the ten outposts that the Israeli authorities had simply days earlier stated that it was working to authorize.

The federal government has promised to grant retroactive authorization to dozens of outposts that had been erected with out authorities permission within the occupied West Financial institution, a few of them a long time in the past.

The Israeli authorities has additionally authorized plans in latest days for 1000’s of recent settlement housing items. Most international locations contemplate all of the settlements to be a violation of worldwide regulation.

Militant Islamic teams in Gaza have fired a number of rockets into southern Israeli airspace in latest weeks in response to Palestinian deaths, and Israel has retaliated by placing targets in Gaza.

Hamas, the group that controls Gaza, portrayed Sunday’s capturing as a “pure response” to Israel’s lethal operations, together with the raid in Nablus final week. Islamic Jihad, a smaller militant faction, stated the capturing was in step with its promise to avenge the killing of its commanders there. Each teams stated they might proceed to withstand the Israeli occupation whatever the summit in Jordan.

Myra Noveck contributed reporting from Jerusalem, and Gabby Sobelman from Rehovot, Israel.