PARIS (AP) — A strong explosion hit a building in Paris’ Left Bank on Wednesday, leaving four people injured and igniting a fire that sent smoke soaring over the domed Pantheon monument and prompted the evacuation of buildings, police said. The cause of the blast was not immediately known.

The facade of a building in the 5th arrondissement, or district, collapsed and emergency services were working to determine if anyone was still inside, a Paris police official said.

Florence Berthout, mayor of the arrondissement, said four people were in “absolute emergency” condition.

“The explosion was extremely violent,” she said, describing pieces of glass still falling from buildings.

The neighborhood was cordoned off and scores of emergency workers filled the area.

Paris police spokeswoman Loubna Atta said it was too early to determine the source of the fire and could not confirm reports it was a caused by a gas explosion.

KING WILLIAM — Each year, the state Departments of Wildlife Resources across the country host the Youth Hunter Education Challenge, and this year the King William 4-H Shooting Sports team was definitely up for it.

The competition is a rigorous one, including five events (hunter responsibility and wildlife identification exam, shotgun clay shooting, 3-D archery, .22-rifle silhouettes and outdoor skills course).

Teams from all over the state gathered on May 6-7 at Holiday Lake 4-H Center in Appomattox for the Virginia YHEC. Each team is further broken down to compete in teams of five. King William’s Junior Team GG and Senior Team D won first overall.

The young team excelled in their disciplines, with Junior Team GG (Hunter Carlton, Sierra Carlton, Sarah Coffee, Robert Rice and Taylor Tetley) placing first in all events. Junior Team HH placed third in shotgun (Brice Chappell, Chandler Eubank, Christopher Rice, Lane Porch and Levi Porch). Senior Team D (Joey Bellina, Josiah Matthews, Nathan Reynolds, Emma Tetley and Victoria Whitt) placed in four out of the five events.

During the summer, the team will shoot in Virginia district competitions and prepare for the Virginia State 4-H Shoot and RL Harris Jr. Memorial 4-H Shotgun Championship in September.

The shooters, coaches and parents of the King William 4-H Shooting Sports team greatly appreciate their generous supporters, including the Twin Rivers Chapter of the Sportsmen of Virginia, King William Ruritans, River City Chapter of the National Deer Association, Friends of the NRA, Bob Haas, J.N. Mills and Sons, Edwin Mills, the Tetley family, the Eubank family and Hollyfield Manor. The team could not make it without these supporters, and the families and coaches who volunteer their time and resources.

King William Shooting Sports Youth Hunter Education Challenge Awards

Senior Team D

1st place team overall

1st place team shotgun

3rd place team archery

Jackson Murray: 3rd place individual overall, 3rd place individual shotgun

Emma Tetley: 1st place individual outdoor skills

Junior Team GG

1st place team overall

1st place team shotgun, archery, .22-rifle, hunter responsibility/wildlife ID exam, outdoor skills

Sarah Coffee: 1st overall junior champion, 1st place individual hunter responsibility/wildlife ID exam and outdoor skills; 3rd place individual archery

Hunter Carlton: 2nd overall junior champion; 2nd place individual hunter responsibility/wildlife ID exam, outdoor skills, rifle, archery; 3rd place individual shotgun

Junior Team HH

3rd place team Shotgun

Chandler Eubank: 3rd place individual Hunter Responsibility/Wildlife ID Exam and Outdoor Skills

Tracey S. Carlton is with King William 4-H Shooting Sports.

Looking for something to do during the next week? Here are just a few happenings in Hampton Roads.

Hampton Jazz Festival, featuring Jonathan Butler, Chris Botti, Kenny G, others. Times vary; Friday through Sunday at Hampton Coliseum, 1000 Coliseum Drive. Single-day tickets start at $75. To purchase online, visit ticketmaster.com. For the daily lineup, visit hamptonjazzfestival.com.

Rebelution brings their “Good Vibes Summer” tour to Virginia Beach. Special guests, featuring Iration, The Expendables, Passafire and DJ Mackle, to open. 6 p.m. Saturday at Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater, 3550 Cellar Door Way, Virginia Beach. Tickets start at $32.50. To purchase online, visit livenation.com.

Generic Theater kicks off its summer comedy series with the Dumpster Dudes. The three-show series will feature different comedians through August. 8 p.m. Saturday down under Chrysler Hall, 215 St. Paul’s Blvd., Norfolk. Single tickets, $12. Series tickets, $30. To purchase online or see the series lineup, visit generictheater.org.

Lazer Invazion, a celebration of space exploration featuring the music of David Bowie, Duran Duran, Daft Punk and many others. 8 p.m. Friday, June 30 at Harrison Opera House, 160 W. Virginia Beach Blvd., Norfolk. Tickets start at $25. To purchase online, visit ticketmaster.com. For more info on the laser light show, visit sevenvenues.com.

Country music singer/songwriter Eric Church brings his “Outsiders Revival” tour to Virginia Beach. 7 p.m. Saturday, July 1 at Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater, 3550 Cellar Door Way, Virginia Beach. Tickets start at $39.75. To purchase online, visit livenation.com.

Events may change. Check before attending.

Patty Jenkins, [email protected]

Ricky White’s smile is the first thing visitors see upon their arrival to Nauticus. And it’s a genuine one.

White, guest relations manager at the Norfolk maritime discovery center, greets the yearly 370,000 guests with a warm welcome.

Now in his 28th year with Nauticus, White was recently recognized for his work and bestowed with the Peter G. Decker, Jr. Hospitality Associate of the Year award for 2023 by the Norfolk Tourism Foundation and VisitNorfolk.

Rehn West, Nauticus director of development and marketing, nominated White and said the organization is lucky to have such an amazing team member represent the attraction.

“Whether the guest is here to visit the museum, go for a sail, participate in a military ceremony on the Battleship Wisconsin or head out on a cruise at the Half Moone, Ricky is ready to make their day at Nauticus the best one yet,” West said.

Stephen Kirkland, Nauticus executive director, said White is an inspiration and part of the very heart and soul of Nauticus.

“Ricky’s natural ability to make our visitors feel appreciated and welcomed is just extraordinary,” he said. “He’s always courteous, always friendly, and always generous with his time.”

A Hampton Roads native, White graduated in 1975 from Norview High School and worked in numerous retail and maintenance jobs.

“When Nauticus first opened, they had a laser light show which really caught my attention and when I came down for that show, I was like, ‘That would be a cool place to work,’” he said.

In 1995, not even a year after it opened, White applied for a job.

He started part-time in exhibits, moved to a full-time position in maintenance two years later and transferred to admissions after another two years.

A self-proclaimed people person, White found his niche in the customer service-related position and has been a constant for well over two decades.

“I get to meet people from all over the world,” he said, noting he successfully cuts through language barriers. “To me, the most important thing is being able to make people’s vacations a great experience.”

Whether behind the desk or out in the lobby, White said his days are busy ensuring guests’ questions are answered and problems solved.

He goes above and beyond to be a voice for other Hampton Roads attractions.

“I try to make sure they know about other things in the area to do, things they shouldn’t miss and places they should go,” he said.

White said seeing repeat customers and generations of families throughout the years always makes him happy. And when they come bearing a gift of chocolate — Reese’s peanut butter cups or M&M’s, White’s smile grows even wider.

“It’s just so amazing,” he said.

A well-respected team player, White oversees 10 people off-season and close to 20 during the summer months.

“I wouldn’t be as successful at my job if it wasn’t for my assistant, Michele Entler, and the rest of the team,” he said.

He said he enjoys his colleagues and especially likes to help guide the younger employees.

“I don’t mind going to work because I know that I’m gonna meet somebody today and we’re gonna have a good conversation,” he said. “Or I’m gonna help somebody this day to have a better experience.”

Now 65, White said he thought about retiring last year or maybe next year, but for now, he is excited to be a part of the makeover and new exhibits underway.

“I really think it’s gonna make Nauticus even better and it’s gonna bring even more people,” he said. “People don’t really know how much they can learn and how much fun it is to come here.”

Sandra J. Pennecke, 757-652-5836, [email protected]

By DÁNICA COTO (Associated Press)

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Tropical Storm Bret grew stronger on Wednesday as it took aim at islands in the eastern Caribbean that braced for torrential rainfall, landslides and flooding.

Bret had maximum sustained winds of 60 mph (95 kph) early Wednesday morning and was moving westward across the Atlantic Ocean at 16 mph (26 kph), according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

The storm was located some 505 miles (815 kilometers) east of Barbados and is expected to grow stronger before lashing several eastern Caribbean islands on Thursday at near hurricane strength. A tropical storm watch was in effect for Barbados, St. Lucia, Martinique and Dominica, as officials in the region urged people to prepare for Bret.

“We all know the uncertainty with forecasting intensity, movement and impact of weather systems,” Fitzroy Pascal at Dominica’s office of disaster management said.

The hurricane center said it was too soon to know where Bret’s center would pass through, but it warned that up to 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain were forecast from the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe south to Grenada and Barbados.

The government of Guadeloupe warned that inclement weather would start Thursday morning and continue until late Friday, with waves of up to 11 feet (3.5 meters).

“Be careful!” officials warned in a statement.

Bret is expected to weaken after it enters the eastern Caribbean Sea and is forecast to become a tropical wave soon after that.

The storm formed Monday — an unusually early and aggressive start to the Atlantic hurricane season that began on June 1. A tropical disturbance with an 80% chance of cyclone formation is trailing Bret. No June on record has had two storms form in the tropical Atlantic, according to meteorologist Philip Klotzbach at Colorado State University.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has forecast 12 to 17 named storms for this year’s hurricane season. It said between five and nine of those storms could become hurricanes, including up to four major hurricanes of Category 3 or higher.

VIRGINIA BEACH — In the House District 96 Democrat primary, incumbent Kelly Convirs-Fowler was leading with 95% of the precincts reporting as of 11 p.m. Tuesday, but the race was too close to call.

She’s facing former legislative aide Susan Hippen, health care administrator Brandon Hutchins and real estate agent Sean Monteiro.

Convirs-Fowler led Tuesday night with 1,176 votes. Hutchins and Hippen followed closely behind with 1,069 votes and 1,047 votes, respectively. Monteiro trailed with 831 votes.

The Democrat-leaning district encompasses central Virginia Beach to the southwest border of the city. Republican challenger Mike Karslake is on the ballot in the November general election.

Convirs-Fowler, 42, is the only candidate with state legislator experience. She currently represents District 21, of which two-thirds has been incorporated into the new District 96. She was first elected in 2017, and is serving her second term.

The delegate has made headlines for numerous reasons unrelated to her work in the General Assembly in recent years. In January, she came into possession of a personal laptop that purportedly belonged to the man who carried out the 2019 mass shooting in Virginia Beach, and she questioned whether investigators missed a potential piece of evidence. A copy of the laptop’s hard drive is currently being investigated by the office of the attorney general. Last year, she came out as bisexual, and confronted a past sexual abuser in court. She also publicly clashed with Virginia Beach Sheriff Ken Stolle over her husband’s dismissal from the agency.

Hippen was once a legislative aide during a General Assembly session for Convirs-Fowler. She previously ran unsuccessfully for state Senate and House districts.

Hippen, 63, entered the race for District 96 last January, while Convirs-Fowler joined later, in March. Convirs-Fowler decided to run because she was concerned that Hippen wouldn’t win and that a woman needed to be the district’s representative, she said.

Hutchins, 42, ran for an at-large seat on the Virginia Beach City Council in 2020. Monteiro, 47, was a newcomer to politics.

Stacy Parker, 757-222-5125, [email protected]

By SARAH RANKIN (Associated Press)

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A handful of Virginia incumbents prevailed over challengers in Tuesday’s primary election, but two of the state’s most controversial political figures — Democratic Sen. Joe Morrissey and Republican Sen. Amanda Chase — lost their party’s nomination, along with at least three more of their Senate colleagues.

Morrissey, a political centrist and increasingly rare Democrat who supports limits on abortion access, lost to former state legislator Lashrecse Aird, an unapologetic, “100%” supporter of abortion rights.

“Joe’s been here too long. It’s time for new blood,” said Gail Coleman, 62, who voted for Aird Tuesday afternoon in suburban Richmond.

Chase, a right-wing firebrand who has served in the Senate since 2016 and embraced falsehoods about the 2020 presidential election, was edged out by Glen Sturtevant, a lawyer and former member of the chamber seeking a political comeback in the red-leaning suburban Richmond district.

Dozens of other races took place around the state, including in some swing districts that will help determine the balance of power in the General Assembly in the November election. Virginia, where the Legislature is currently politically divided, is one of the few states that holds its legislative races in odd-numbered years. With its unusual calendar and quasi-swing state status, the state’s results are often closely watched for hints of voter sentiment heading into the following year’s midterm or presidential cycle.

Both parties and both chambers had competitive contests on the ballot, and an unusually high number of sitting officeholders faced serious challenges in an election season upended by new political maps.

This year marks the first cycle in which legislative candidates are running in districts created during the redistricting process that ended in late 2021. The new maps were drawn by outside experts without regard to incumbent protection. That’s contributed to a wave of retirements by many of the General Assembly’s veteran lawmakers and diminished the name-recognition advantage for incumbents, some of whom ran in almost entirely new districts.

The losses by Chase, Morrissey and their colleagues will add to the already lofty turnover.

In another high-profile race, Democrat L. Louise Lucas, a veteran legislator, knocked off another incumbent, fellow Sen. Lionell Spruill. The race in the heavily Democratic Hampton Roads seat was one of only two featuring current officeholders from the same chamber running against one another. It was marked by particularly sharp personal attacks lobbed on social media and in TV ads.

Lucas, who has served in the Senate since 1992, campaigned as a fighter. She donned boxing gloves in some ads, promising to take on Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin.

“MOMMA SAID KNOCK YOU OUT!” she tweeted.

In northern Virginia, challengers upset at least two incumbents.

Saddam Salim, a first-generation immigrant and political activist, defeated moderate Democratic Sen. Chap Petersen.

Petersen, a lawyer, has angered the liberal wing of his party by joining with Republicans as a key vote in getting several of Youngkin’s priorities across the finish line, including legislation that ended school mask mandates last year.

Stella Pekarsky, a member of the Fairfax County School Board, beat Democratic Sen. George Barker, who has served in the Senate since 2008 and wields significant influence from his perch as co-chair of the chamber’s Finance and Appropriations Committee.

In a contentious Republican contest for a southwest Virginia House seat, freshman Del. Wren Williams defeated fellow Del. Marie March. In northern Virginia, former CIA officer Russet Perry secured the Democratic nomination in a Senate seat expected to be a key battleground in the general election.

Elsewhere, incumbents easily cruised past challengers. Democratic Sen. Lamont Bagby handily defeated Katie Gooch in a Richmond-area race, and Sen. Dave Marsden defeated Heidi Drauschak, who was backed by the big-spending advocacy group Clean Virginia.

In a Charlottesville-anchored seat, Democratic Sen. Creigh Deeds fended off a spirited challenge from Sally Hudson, a member of the House of Delegates. Deeds, a respected advocate on mental health issues, campaigned as a pragmatic progressive, arguing that his experience and relationships in Richmond would be a boon to his constituents, an argument echoed by other incumbents.

Among Republicans, Chase was the only Senate incumbent to face a challenge Tuesday. She campaigned as a champion of gun rights and other conservative values. She also persistently repeated former President Donald Trump’s falsehoods about widespread fraud in the 2020 election.

Although Chase had campaigned with Youngkin after unsuccessfully seeking the party’s nomination for governor herself in 2021, Youngkin did not endorse her in the race. Nor did he wade into an eight-way Senate contest in the Shenandoah Valley won by farmer Timmy French.

But the night went especially well for other candidates the governor backed. All of the seven on the ballot Tuesday won their nomination contests. The three others in competitive races he backed had won party-run nominations earlier.

In the central Virginia Senate nomination contest with Morrissey, Aird was powered to victory with the help of an unusual number of legislators and members of the state’s congressional delegation who endorsed her. She also far outspent Morrissey, who ran a scrappy operation with no official campaign manager.

A disbarred attorney with a long history of personal and professional controversies, Morrissey identifies as “pro-life” but has long supported some abortion access. He has recently expressed a willingness to vote with Republicans to enact stricter limits.

Until this race, Morrissey had time and again overcome personal controversies to win elected office. As he campaigned for office this year, he faced allegations of mistreatment and physical abuse by his decades-younger estranged wife, which he strenuously denied.

Despite those headwinds, many observers were unwilling to count him out because of his long-established reputation as an effective grassroots campaigner who takes care of bread-and-butter issues for constituents. Morrissey conceded to Aird.

Aird, who works in higher education administration, will head into the general election season as the favorite in the blue leaning district south and east of Richmond.

A handful of other races were too early to call late Tuesday.

___

A previous headline on this story was corrected to reflect that Lashrecse Aird is a former state legislator, not a current state legislator.

___

Associated Press photographer Steve Helber contributed to this report from Dinwiddie.

By MATTHEW BARAKAT (Associated Press)

LEESBURG, Va. (AP) — Three incumbent prosecutors in northern Virginia who faced tough challenges after being elected four years ago on a progressive reform agenda won their Democratic primaries Tuesday.

In Fairfax County, the state’s most populous jurisdiction, incumbent Steve Descano defeated Ed Nuttall, a former prosecutor and trial attorney who is best known for representing police officers accused of misconduct.

Descano, in a phone interview, said the results in his race and in the other two counties show that “voters have seen that criminal justice reform can work, and quite frankly they want more of it.”

He said that while reform opponents have tried to raise fears about rising crime, Tuesday’s results show that “voters feel safe, they know they’re safe, and they know they can have safety, fairness, justice and equality.”

Buta Biberaj, the commonwealth’s attorney in Loudoun County, won over challenger Elizabeth Lancaster after raising significantly more money. Biberaj faced criticism, including some within her own party, over her day-to-day management of the office and as Loudoun found itself in the national spotlight over issues like school safety. She also faced criticism in her handling of two sex assaults at two different high schools in 2021.

In November, Biberaj will face Republican Bob Anderson, who held the commonwealth attorney’s post in Loudoun more than 20 years ago.

In a phone interview, Biberaj said the general election race “will be about Loudoun County going forward or going backward 20 or 30 years.”

And in Arlington County, incumbent Parisa Dehghani-Tafti defeated challenger Josh Katcher, who had been one of Dehghani-Tafti’s deputies before leaving the office.

Dehghani-Tafti is overwhelmingly favored in heavily Democratic Arlington County in November.

Descano, Biberaj and Dehghani-Tafti were all elected four years ago in the wealthy northern Virginia suburbs outside the nation’s capital on progressive reform agendas, in some cases knocking off incumbents who had been in office for decades. This year, the challengers themselves largely embraced reform efforts and focused their criticism instead on issues of office management.

Political analysts often look to Virginia’s odd-year elections for insights on voter sentiment heading into midterm and presidential years. This year, the prosecutor races in northern Virginia might shed light on whether suburban voters are still committed to criminal justice reform after years of Republican criticism that reformers are soft on crime.

Lancaster, a former public defender, faced skepticism from some Democrats because she currently works for a law firm led by a prominent local Republican. But Lancaster said her career as a public defender highlighted her commitment to reform, particularly her longstanding efforts to revamp the county’s juvenile justice system.

Biberaj said Tuesday night that she believes many of her opponent’s votes came from GOP efforts to support Lancaster in the primary, which is open to all voters since Virginia voters do not register by party affiliation.

In their campaigns, the challengers have questioned the incumbents’ day-to-day management of their offices and to varying degrees endorsed the need for criminal justice reform.

By ELAINE KURTENBACH (AP Business Writer)

BANGKOK (AP) — Shares were mostly lower Wednesday in Asia after Wall Street benchmarks retreated following the S&P 500’s rise to its highest level since the spring of last year.

U.S. futures were little changed and oil prices rose.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 edged 0.1% higher to 33,427.14, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong sank 1.5% to 19,607.08. The Shanghai Composite index gave up 0.5% to 3,240.36 and the Kospi in Seoul slipped 0.4% to 2,594.19.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.2% to 7,345.30.

This week has few potentially market-moving events.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will testify before Congress on Wednesday and Thursday. Last week, the Fed held its benchmark lending rate steady, the first time in more than a year that it didn’t announce an increase. But it also warned it could raise rates twice more this year.

The Bank of England will meet on interest-rate policy Thursday. Central banks around the world are heading in diverging directions as they battle inflation amid worries about a pressured global economy.

“Investors are turning cautious ahead of another hefty dose of Fedspeak amidst a relatively light data docket,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.

He added that “with central banks in the mood to dish out inflation pain these days, investors may need to see some positive inflation data convergence to narrow the wide disparity between the Federal Reserve and the market’s forward inflation expectations before breaking fresh higher ground on U.S. stocks.”

On Tuesday as U.S. markets reopened after being closed in observance of the Juneteenth holiday, the S&P 500 fell 0.5% to 4,388.71. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.7% to 34,053.87, and the Nasdaq composite lost 0.2%, to 13,667.29.

The U.S. stock market took a step back following many steps forward on hopes the economy can avoid a recession and inflation is easing enough for the Fed to stop raising interest rates soon. A frenzy around artificial intelligence has also vaulted a select group of tech stocks to huge gains.

Those hopes are battling against worries that the Fed will keep interest rates high for longer, which could grind down the economy. Some of the easiest improvements in year-over-year inflation will soon be passed, bringing tougher times for both the economy and financial markets.

During the 70s, inflation remained high for much longer than hoped, forcing the Fed to ultimately drive the economy into a painful recession.

In China, meanwhile, the world’s second-largest economy is stumbling in its recovery following the relaxation of anti-COVID restrictions

Most of Wall Street fell, with four out of five stocks in the S&P 500 lower.

Worries about the global economy dragged lower prices for crude oil and the stocks of companies that pull it from the ground. Energy stocks fell 2.3% for the largest loss among the 11 sectors that make up the S&P 500. Exxon Mobil fell 2.3%, and Chevron lost 2.3%.

Ball Corp., which makes aluminum cans and other products, dropped 4.2%. It said Tuesday that it’s considering options for its aerospace business but that “there is no certainty that any formal decision will be made.” Its stock had jumped 7.2% Friday following a report that it was looking to sell the unit.

On the winning side was Dice Therapeutics, which soared 37.2% after Eli Lilly said it would buy the biopharmaceutical company for $2.4 billion in cash. Lilly added 0.9%.

Homebuilders rose after a report showed that U.S. homebuilders broke ground on many more sites last month than economists expected. The number of building permits, an indication of future activity, also accelerated faster than expected.

PulteGroup rose 1.9%, and D.R. Horton gained 1.6%.

In other trading Wednesday, U.S. benchmark crude oil rose 29 cents to $71.48 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Brent crude, the international standard, added 18 cents to $75.17 per barrel.

The dollar rose to 141.70 Japanese yen from 141.34 yen. The euro slipped to $1.0916 from $1.0922.

___

AP Business Writer Stan Choe contributed.

By ISABEL DEBRE (Associated Press)

JERUSALEM (AP) — Two Palestinian attackers opened fire at a restaurant and gas station near an Israeli settlement in the West Bank on Tuesday, killing four Israelis and wounding several other people before they were shot dead, authorities said, as violence roiled the occupied territory the day after a deadly Israeli military raid.

Israeli settlers attempted to carry out revenge attacks across the northern West Bank, raising fears of a repeat of a rampage last February that resulted in damage to dozens of Palestinian homes and vehicles and the killing of a Palestinian man.

Carloads of Israeli settlers drove to the northern Palestinian towns of Hawara, Beit Furik, Burin and surrounding villages, setting dozens of cars on fire, hurling stones and trying to set homes ablaze, said Nablus official Ghassan Daghlas. There were no immediate reports of serious injuries.

Tuesday’s violence underscored the fragility of the situation in the West Bank, where on Monday an Israeli military raid into the northern Jenin refugee camp ignited some of the fiercest Israeli-Palestinian fighting in years, killing six Palestinians and wounding scores more. Palestinian militants targeted Israeli military vehicles with powerful roadside bombs and Israeli forces deployed helicopter gunships to evacuate stranded troops.

In the Balata refugee camp near the West Bank city of Nablus late Tuesday, two Palestinian teenagers were killed when homemade explosives they were handling went off accidentally, the local Islamic Jihad branch said in a statement of condolences. The militant group named the two Palestinians killed as 17-year-old Mohammed Hashah and 18-year-old Alaa Hafnawi. Palestinian media reported that a third was wounded by the blast.

A surge in violence in recent months has killed at least 130 Palestinians and 24 people on the Israeli side so far this year, according to a tally by The Associated Press, prompting many on either side of the conflict to fear a possible greater conflagration.

The Israeli military said it was sending reinforcements to the West Bank and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to “settle the score with the murderers.”

“I want to tell all those who seek to harm us — all options are open,” he said in a video statement. “We will continue to fight terror with all our might.”

The Israeli military said all of the victims were Israeli citizens, and local media described three of the victims as residents of West Bank settlements while the fourth came from central Israel. They reportedly ranged in age from 17 to 60.

Israeli military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said the two Palestinian gunmen, both affiliated with the Hamas militant group, drove to the shooting scene from the Palestinian village of Urif in the northern West Bank. The men went on a rampage at a gas station next to the Israeli settlement of Eli, the Israeli military said, north of the Palestinian city of Ramallah. They first burst into a hummus restaurant, shooting and killing three people, the army said, before heading out to the gas station and killing another person who was pumping gas into his car.

A civilian bystander shot one of the assailants repeatedly, killing him. Hamas identified him as 26-year-old Mohannad Faleh. The second assailant fled the gas station in a stolen Toyota.

After an hourslong manhunt, Israeli security forces caught him in the West Bank town of Tubas, shooting and killing him when he tried to run out of his car. Palestinian health officials identified the man as 24-year-old Khaled Sabah.

The Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad praised the attack as a response to Monday’s deadly military raid.

“Revolutionaries in the West Bank are striking everywhere, and specifically where (Israel) does not expect it,” said Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem, describing the shooting as a “reaction to the crimes of the occupation in the Jenin camp.”

Hours after the attack, Israeli settlers streamed through Palestinian towns, trying to torch property and smashing cars with stones. A few settlers opened fire at Palestinians who had ventured out of their homes to confront them, said Daghlas. Dozens of Palestinians were attacked and wounded by rocks throughout the Nablus governorate, he said, including a Palestinian journalist struck in the face. Videos shared online showed giant fires tearing through the countryside.

Although the scale of damage remained unclear, photos circulated overnight showing charred cars and smashed windshields across the Nablus governorate. In the northern village of Luban e-Sharkiyaa, footage showed a partly scorched gas station and trashed convenience store.

The northern town of Hawara was the scene of a deadly rampage earlier this year in which Israeli settlers set dozens of homes and cars on fire and left one Palestinian dead after a Palestinian militant attack killed two Israeli brothers.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant was convening with the country’s army chief and other top security officials to discuss a response to the shooting. Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners have ramped up pressure on the government to crack down harshly on the wave of Palestinian violence.

“Now is the time for a military operation in Judea and Samaria,” said Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, using the biblical term for the West Bank. From the scene of the attack, he demanded that the government launch “targeted assassinations from the air,” “take down buildings,” deport Palestinian assailants and impose the death penalty on terrorists.

The head of the Yesha Council, the Israeli settlers’ umbrella organization, echoed calls for a “broad (military) operation.”

“We cannot continue to absorb these blows and hope the wave of terrorism will just pass,” said Shlomo Ne’eman.

The Israeli rescue service said that one person remained in serious condition, two people in moderate condition and another in light condition. Medics reported that they found seven people suffering from gunshot wounds in the hummus restaurant and the outside gas station.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides strongly condemned “the senseless murder of four innocent Israelis” and said he was “deeply concerned about the civilian deaths” of the past two days.

Tuesday’s shooting followed fighting in the northern Jenin refugee camp that killed six Palestinians, including a 15-year-old boy, and wounded over 90 others. On Tuesday, the death toll from the raid rose to six when 48-year-old Amjad Abu Jaas succumbed to wounds sustained in the gunbattle, Palestinian health officials said. A dozen Palestinians remain in critical condition. Eight Israeli soldiers were also wounded.

After the deadly raid, Palestinians rushed to checkpoints to throw stones at Israeli military vehicles in protest. In the Palestinian town of Husan, west of Bethlehem, Israeli forces killed a Palestinian man who they alleged threw a firebomb at troops along a West Bank highway late Monday. The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the man killed as 21-year-old Zakaria al-Zaoul.

Israel and the Palestinian territories have been gripped by months of violence, fueled by several factors. Rising militancy among a new generation of Palestinians, the new far-right government’s hard-line stance against the Palestinians and an escalating Israeli military crackdown on the West Bank have all worked to fuel violence and undermine efforts to calm tensions.

Israel has been staging near-nightly raids in the West Bank in response to a spasm of Palestinian violence early last year. Israel says most of the 128 Palestinian dead this year were militants, but stone-throwing youths protesting the incursions and others not involved in confrontations have also been killed.

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

___

Associated Press writer Isaac Scharf in Jerusalem contributed to this report.