Israeli army critically wounds Palestinian toddler in occupied West Bank

After being shot by Israeli fire in the occupied West Bank, a 3-year-old Palestinian boy is in critical condition at an Israeli hospital.

The army opened an investigation into what it said was an unintentional shooting late Thursday.

In a statement on Friday, the military said that gunmen opened fire toward the West Bank settlement of Neve Tzuf. It said soldiers at a guard post returned fire.

Moments later, Israeli medics received reports that a Palestinian man and the child had been badly wounded. The man was rushed to a Palestinian hospital, while the baby, after being resuscitated by Israeli medics, was airlifted to Israel's Sheba Hospital. The hospital said the boy was in critical condition.

The military released a grainy video showing what it said were the gunmen firing toward the settlement and said that it was searching for them.

Surge of violence

The shooting was the latest bloodshed in a more than yearlong surge of violence in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem. That fighting has picked up since Israel's new far-right government took office in late December.

Nearly 120 Palestinians have been killed in the two areas this year, with nearly half of them members of armed militant groups, according to an Associated Press tally. The military says the number of militants is much higher. But stone-throwing youths and people uninvolved in violence have also been killed.

Meanwhile, Palestinian attacks targeting Israelis in those areas have killed at least 21 people.

Israel captured the West Bank and east Jerusalem, along with Gaza, in the 1967 Mideast war. Palestinians seek these territories for a future state.

Some 700,000 Israelis now live in settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. The international community considers these settlements illegal or obstacles to peace.