Five Israelis, who according to media reports were all members of the same family, have been killed in an overnight attack on a West Bank settlement

Five Israelis, who according to media reports were all members of the same family, have been killed in an overnight attack on a West Bank settlement.

Israeli army officials said on Saturday that a Palestinian got into the Itamar settlement near Nablus in the north of the West Bank and killed five people, but did not elaborate on who the killed were.

The army launched a search of the area to find the attacker or attackers, an army spokeswoman told AFP.

The military also said it was sweeping the area and had set up checkpoints throughout the West Bank. It has also instructed all residents to stay in their homes during the extensive sweeps.
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad condemned the killings in the West Bank. "We clearly and firmly condemn all forms of violence, and I condemn what happened last night in (the settlement of) Itamar, just as I condemn the crimes against Palestinians," Fayyad said in the West Bank town of Bethlehem.

Israeli settlers’ violence has been in the surge recently with several recorded aggressions against defenseless Palestinians.

On Monday, Israeli soldiers fired live rounds at Palestinians after they clashed with Israeli settlers near Nablus.

Ten Palestinians were wounded during the violence, according to Palestinian medical sources and a spokesman for the settlers.

A week earlier, police clashed with settlers in the Havat Gilad outpost west of Nablus as officers moved in to remove a caravan, a tent and another half-built illegal structure there. That prompted settlers to firebomb a house in Huwarra village, which saw two Palestinian children taken to hospital for smoke inhalation.

They also smashed up shops and cars in the southern city of Al-Khalil and settlers also cut down 500 olive tree saplings that had been planted on the site of a former settlement outpost.

The settlers routinely react when police and soldiers demolish structures in settlements or wildcat settlement outposts in what are known as "price tag" attacks, which often target Palestinians.

This violence against the local population is a direct response to what they consider "anti-settler" activity by the Israeli government.