The Israeli military killed two Palestinians who authorities said allegedly opened fire at troops from their car in the northern West Bank on Tuesday.

The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the two men killed in the West Bank village of Deir al Hatab as Saud Abdullah Saud and Mohammed Abu Dira, but did not give their ages.

The Israeli military said the men shot at an Israeli outpost near the settlement of Elon Moreh, south of the Palestinian city of Nablus. Israeli soldiers on patrol opened fire, killing the two alleged gunmen.

Palestinian media reported that a third gunman was in the car during the drive-by shooting and fled the area.

Israeli security forces said they were searching for other suspected assailants and found a pair of M-16 rifles and a pistol at the scene.

The local armed group of the Balata refugee camp, a militant stronghold near Nablus, identified the two men as militants, sharing photos of them brandishing M-16s in the camp. Saud Abdullah Saud had previously spent 15 years in Israeli prison, the group said.

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Why is there tension over Jerusalem holy site?

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Tensions are also high following police raids last week on Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem as the Muslim and Jewish festivals of Ramadan and Passover coincide.

Tuesday’s deaths followed a week of heightened violence in Israel and the West Bank, touched off by an Israeli police raid on Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site, the compound home to the Al Aqsa mosque.

Two British Israeli sisters and their mother were killed when their car came under fire on Friday near a settlement in the West Bank.

Lucy Dee, 45, died in hospital on Monday. She had been in a coma after the attack. Her daughters, Maia and Rina Dee, aged 20 and 15, died at the scene.

The husband and father of the victims was unhurt as he was in another car some distance away.

Speaking on Monday, Rabbi Leo Dee said “our family of seven is now a family of four“.

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On Monday the Palestinian health ministry said a 15-year-old had been killed during an Israeli military raid in the West Bank.

It said Mohammad Balhan was hit in the head, chest and abdomen near Jericho.

Italian tourist Alessandro Parini was killed on the same day as the attack on the Dee family when a car drove at people in the coastal city of Tel Aviv.

Police shot the attacker dead as he reached for his weapon but five other tourists, including Britons, were hurt in the incident near the promenade.

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