Two sisters killed in a shooting in the West Bank were British nationals | World News

Two women killed in a shooting in the West Bank were British nationals, according to a UK official.

The women were sisters – one aged 15 and the other in her 20s, according to local media.

Their mother was also seriously injured when their car was attacked on Friday near the Hamra settlement, about 30 miles north of Jerusalem.

Sky News Middle East correspondent Ali Bunkall said it’s believed the family moved to Israel around 2005.

The shooting happened after Israeli airstrikes earlier hit Lebanon and Gaza – in response to rocket attacks Israel blamed on militant group Hamas.

Tensions have flared in the region following police raids on Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem this week.

Bunkall said the practice of targeting cars with Israeli number plates in the West Bank had become “far more commonplace in the last few weeks” and that a US national was also recently shot dead.

It’s believed the two women killed on Friday were in a car that came under fire and was then rammed, with pictures showing a white car badly damaged on the side of the road.

The sisters died at the scene and their mother was airlifted to hospital in a “very critical condition”, added Sky’s correspondent.

Their father was behind them in another car when the attack happened, according to Oded Revivi, the mayor of the settlement where the family lived.

Mr Revivi said they lived in Efrat, near the Palestinian city of Bethlehem.

Road blocks have been set up to try to find the attackers.

No group has claimed responsibility so far, but a Hamas spokesman hailed the attack as “retaliation for the crimes committed by Israel in the West Bank and the Al-Aqsa mosque”.

The clashes at Al Aqsa compound came at the start of the Jewish festival of Passover, which this year coincides with Ramadan.

The site is extremely sacred to both Muslims and Jews and tensions over access and control often spill over into violence.