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A Palestinian gunman's deadly rampage through Israeli towns has left one person dead and five others wounded, in a stark reminder of the escalating violence in the region. The attacker, identified as an Arab Israeli citizen in his 20s, struck amid heightened tensions , following a spate of Israeli settler attacks and the deadly shooting of a Palestinian baby.

The attacker began by shootting someone at a petrol station near the town of Kokhav Yair, on the Israeli side of the boundary with the occupied West Bank. Several other shootings were reported in two nearby Israeli towns and close to the Israeli settlement of Salit, inside the West Bank.

Israel's Channel 12 reported the attacker stayed in his car while shooting, allowing him to bring terror upon several locations within a matter of minutes.. a photo has circulated online of what appears to be a makeshift submachine gun, also known as the Carl Gustav or the Carlo , which was reportedly found at the scene.

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The attacker's precise motives were not immediately known, but Palestinian militant group Hamas praised the shooting, although they did not claim responsibility for the attack. A 35-year-old man was killed and five people were wounded by the gunman.

Local council leader Oshrit Gani Gonen told Israeli media: 'Since October 7, the scenario we were expecting was terrorists crossing into our towns from over the boundary. I don't think that anyone imagined that we would discover the attackers were Israeli citizes.'

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the security forces who killed the attacker. His hardline public security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, who oversees the police force, posted a video online that appears to show him standing next to the blurred-out body of the gunman. Ben-Gvir said: 'This is the end of every terrorist, this is how it should look.'

Ben-Gvir has come under sharp condemnation from other Israeli leaders for making controversial videos,such as his treatment of flotilla activists who were detained after attempting to break the maritime blockade to Gaza.

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The West Bank has experienced a surge in deadly violence since the war in Gaza began. israel has stepped up military operations across the territory, killing hundreds of people. It says raids are aimed at militants, but scores of civilians have also been killed.

The October 7 attack killed around 1,200 people and took 251 as hostages. Israel's ensuing offensive in Gaza has killed more than 72,000 Palestinians, including combatants and civilians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

Also on Sunday, at least four Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike that hit a police point in Gaza's southern city of Khan Younis, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent. the dead were taken to a field hospital run by the Red Crescent, while at least ten others were wounded.