Three people were confirmed dead and five others wounded after a shooting and car ramming attack in the Gush Etzion region of the West Bank on Thursday afternoon, few hours after a stabbing attack killed two people in Tel Aviv.

According to eyewitnesses, a Palestinian motorist opened fire on cars near the settlement of Alon Shvut around 4:35 P.M., killing three people with an Uzi submachine gun. He went on driving toward Gush Etzion Junction, where he lost control of the vehicle, ramming into another car.

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Israeli officials told FoxNews that an 18-year-old American yeshiva student,Ezra Schwartz from the Boston area and a 24-year-old Palestinian Shadi Arafa of Hebron were pronounced dead on the scene.

According to Fox News, a Jewish Israeli man aged 51 years, Yaacov Don of Alon Shvut, died at the Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center of his wounds. Five other people were lightly wounded in the attack, including American nationals, according to some reports.

Earlier, two people were killed and one was wounded in a stabbing attack on Ben Tzvi Road on Thursday afternoon in Tel Aviv. The two were identified as Reuven Aviram, 51, a resident of Ramla, and Aharon Yesayev, 32, a resident of Holon. The wounded person is in stable condition. The Palestinian assailant was slightly wounded and is in custody.

Witnesses said after the assailant stabbed two people, those in the room managed to close the door behind him, after which he stabbed a third victim. The assailant was overpowered by a civilian in the area and was taken into custody by a policeman. After launching a search for a second suspect, police pointed out that the assailant was alone.

The assailant aged 36 years is a Palestinian from the West Bank town of Dura near Hebron. He has been identified as Riad Mahmoud Al-Masalma. He had received a permit to enter Israel approximately a month ago and had been working at a local Bukharan restaurant.

Magen David Adom paramedics Yonit Niviv and Moshe Danenberg were among the responders and described the scene as chaotic.

President Reuven Rivlin drew a parallel between Thursday's incidents in Tel Aviv and the West Bank, and the recent attacks in Paris and Sinai.

"Our hearts are pained and broken," Rivlin said in a statement. "The pain is the same pain. The mourning is the same mourning in Gush Etzion, in Tel Aviv, in Paris and in the Sinai. The pornography of death is striking across the world."

Following the attacks Israel's Science, Technology and Space Minister Ofir Akunis called for a closure on Hebron.

These were the first terror attacks since last Friday, when Ya'akov Litman a Rabbi and his son Netanel were killed in a shooting attack in the West Bank southern city of Hebron. Five other family members were driving with the two to a family event in the southern town of Meitar

TagsWest Bank, tel aviv, Gush Etzion, Ezra Schwartz, Yaacov Don of Alon Shvut, Reuven Rivlin, Paris Attacks, Sinai Attack, West Bank Terrorist Attack, Tel Aviv Terrorist Attack