Jerusalem (CNN) -- Five members of an Israeli family were killed in the West Bank early Saturday morning in what the Israeli military is calling a "terror attack."According to a military spokeswoman, an intruder entered the Israeli settlement of Itamar near the northern West Bank city of Nablus around 1 a.m., made his way into a family home and killed two parents and their three children.
Military units were searching the surrounding area for the assailant, the spokeswoman said. The military would not provide more details. But local media reported that the attack was made with a knife, and neighbors reported hearing shots fired as well.
Military spokesman Maj. Peter Lerner said multiple perpetrators may have been involved.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanded that the Palestinian Authority assist in finding those responsible, though he did not explicitly blame Palestinians for the deaths.
"This is a heinous act of a murder of a whole innocent family -- parents, children and baby -- while they were sleeping in their home on the Sabbath night," Netanyahu said. "Israel will not accept such a heinous murder and will act strongly to keep the safety of the lives of Israeli citizens and punish the murderers."
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad denounced the killings.
"I say that in regards to what happened (Saturday) in Itamar settlement -- and the victims were a toddler and two children, the father and mother -- exactly as we have always said against violence ... we refuse this and condemn it," Fayyad said, according to his spokesman, Ghassan Khatib. "We refuse and condemn violence, whatever the reasons are or the perpetrators or targets or victims."
