Free Press Journal

Israel shooting: Palestinian gunman kills three at Jewish settlement near West Bank

FOLLOW US:

Israeli security forces and emergency teams gather at the scene of an attack at the entrance to the West Bank settlement of Har Adar. / AFP PHOTO / Menahem KAHANA

Jerusalem: A Palestinian opened fire at Israeli security personnel at the entrance to a West Bank settlement today, killing three and wounding another before being shot dead, police said.

“A terrorist who arrived at the rear gate of Har Adar along with Palestinian labourers entering the settlement…. pulled out a weapon and opened fire at the force at the site,” police said.

“Three Israelis were killed in the attack, another was wounded and the terrorist was neutralised.”


Police later said the Palestinian had died of his wounds. The wounded Israeli was admitted to Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem in serious condition, the hospital said.

The incident, at a settlement northwest of Jerusalem that lies near several Palestinian villages, comes nearly two years after a wave of unrest broke out. The violence had greatly subsided in recent months. Since October 2015, the unrest has killed at least 295 Palestinians or Arab Israelis, 50 Israelis, two Americans, two Jordanians, an Eritrean, a Sudanese and a Briton, according to an AFP toll.

Israeli authorities say that most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks. Others were shot dead in protests and clashes, while some were killed in Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip.