The two gunmen arrived in a car and shot at the people at the gas station and the nearby hummus restaurant
Four Israelis, including a teenager, were shot dead in an attack near a settlement in the occupied West Bank.
Four others were wounded, one of them seriously, when two Palestinian gunmen opened fire at a restaurant and gas station near Eli on Tuesday.
The Palestinian militant group Hamas said the gunmen were its members.
One was shot on the spot by an armed civilian, while the second fled in a stolen car and was later killed by Israeli forces in the town of Tubas.
Israel’s prime minister said “all options are open” in response to what he called a “shocking and disgusting terrorist attack” that followed heightened violence in the West Bank in recent days.
A Hamas spokesman said the shooting was in response to an Israeli military attack in Jenin on Monday that killed seven Palestinians.
Tuesday’s shooting happened just south of Eli on Highway 60, the main road between the Palestinian cities of Ramallah and Nablus.
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a statement that the two gunmen arrived in a car from the village of Urif, about 10 kilometers (6 miles) to the north.
They first opened fire at a roadside hummus restaurant, killing three civilians, then shot and killed another civilian in the courtyard of the gas station, he added.
One of the shooters was shot and killed by an armed civilian, but the other managed to flee the scene in a stolen car.
Admiral Hagari said IDF soldiers and Shin Bet security service officers later found the vehicle near Tubas, 29 km northeast, and shot and killed the second gunman.
A Magen David Adom (MDA) ambulance paramedic, Moti Dahan, said he and his colleagues saw a “difficult scene” when they arrived at the scene of the attack. He added that there were seven victims with gunshot wounds.
“We conducted medical examinations and started providing medical treatment, three of the victims were evacuated to the MDA MICU (mobile intensive care units) in a hospital and unfortunately four of the victims were pronounced dead.”
The slain were identified by Israeli media as Elisha Antman, 18, and Ofer Fairman, 63, of Eli; 17-year-old Nachman Mordoff from the settlement post of Achia east of Eli; and Harel Masoud, 21, from Yad Binyamin, a city in central Israel.
The number of Israelis killed was the highest since an attack by a Palestinian outside a synagogue in occupied East Jerusalem in January, when seven were killed.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement: “From the bottom of my heart, I send my condolences to the families of those who were killed, may God avenge them, and on behalf of the entire nation, I send my best wishes for a speedy recovery to the wounded.”
“I would like to remind all those who want to harm us: all options are open. We will continue to fight terrorism with full force and defeat it,” he added.
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem described the shooting as “a response to the crimes of the occupation (Israel) in the Jenin refugee camp yesterday”.
Seven Palestinians were killed – including a 15-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl named Sadil Ghassan Turkman, who died of her wounds on Wednesday morning – and more than 90 injured during an attack on the camp by Israeli forces. Several Israeli soldiers were also injured during the incursion.
Hours after the Eli shooting, groups of Israeli settlers attacked several nearby Palestinian towns and villages, throwing stones and setting fire to vehicles, property and olive groves.
Meanwhile, far-right parties in Israel’s coalition government are pressuring Mr. Netanyahu to launch a major military operation in the northern West Bank to counter a wave of Palestinian attacks.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir told reporters in Ely that it was time to “return to targeted aerial killings, demolish buildings, erect roadblocks, expel terrorists and complete the passage of the law on the death penalty for terrorists “.
Since the beginning of the year, more than 160 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. The figures include combatants as well as civilians.
In addition, 27 people on the Israeli side were killed – including two foreigners and a Palestinian worker – in attacks or apparent attacks by Palestinians. All were civilians, except for one active, off-duty soldier and member of the Israeli security forces.