Pregnant Israeli settler killed in West Bank shooting

A heavily pregnant Israeli settler was killed in a shooting in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, drawing calls from pro-settler leaders for nearby Palestinian villages to be flattened.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the shooting near the Brukhin settlement in the northern West Bank.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said Tzeela Gez was shot while in a car with her husband as they were driving to the hospital to give birth.

Israeli media reported that Gez was pronounced dead after being taken to hospital, where her baby was delivered by caesarean section. The baby is reportedly in a serious but stable condition, while Gez's husband Hananel was lightly injured.

Israeli politicians said the nearby Palestinian towns of Bruqin and az-Zawiya should be destroyed like cities in Gaza, amid one of the largest Israeli military assaults in the West Bank in two decades. At least 38,000 people have been displaced since the assault was launched in January.

Israeli military and settlers have killed at least 934 Palestinians in the West Bank since the start of Israel's war on Gaza, according to health ministry figures.