NEAR KDUMIM SETTLEMENT, West Bank, July 6 (Reuters) - A suspected Palestinian assailant shot and killed an Israeli near a settlement in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, Israel's ambulance service said. Israel's Army Radio said the assailant had driven to the settlement from the direction of the nearby Palestinian city Nablus. The attack followed Israel's two-day operation earlier in the week in the northern West Bank city of Jenin, about 10 kilometres away, its biggest in years. Hamas, a Palestinian militant group that controls the Gaza Strip but also has a presence in the West Bank, praised Thursday's shooting which it said was a response to Israel's Jenin operation. Violence in the West Bank has escalated over the past 15 months, with increased Israeli raids, Palestinian street attacks and settler rampages in Palestinian villages.

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Persons: Israel's, rampages, Maayan Lubell, James Mackenzie, Toby Chopra, Conor Humphries Organizations: West Bank, Israel's Army Radio, Thomson Locations: KDUMIM, West, Palestinian, Nablus, West Bank, Jenin, Gaza