JERUSALEM – Israeli police opened fire Sunday on a pair of suspected attackers who crashed their car into a West Bank checkpoint, shooting dead a young Palestinian woman in an adjacent vehicle, according to police and medical officials.
The two suspects were also shot, while a young police officer was slightly injured.
The incident on Sunday night came hours after nine people were killed in other unrest in the occupied territory, which has seen a surge in violence since Israel’s war against Hamas broke out on October 7.
Israeli police said the attack took place at a checkpoint near the Palestinian village of Biddu, just northwest of Jerusalem.
Security camera footage showed a white car crashing into a pair of Israeli police officers at the checkpoint. Police then pursue the vehicle and open fire.
Mourners react to the bodies of six Palestinians, draped with Hamas flags during their funeral in the West Bank city of Jenin, Sunday, Jan. 7, 2024. AP Israeli security forces examine the scene of a Palestinian shooting attack, near Wadi al-Haramiya, West Bank, Sunday, January 7, 2024. AP Israeli soldiers stand guard next to the scene of a Palestinian shooting attack, near Wadi al-Haramiya, West Bank, Sunday, January 7, 2024. AP
Police said a man and woman inside the car were shot, but a girl in a pickup truck in front of them was also shot. The girl, reported to be 3 or 4 years old, was pronounced dead by Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service.
Police said a preliminary investigation found that “during officers’ rapid response to the terrorists’ vehicle, the vehicle with the child may have been affected.” They promised a “thorough investigation.”
The conditions of the alleged attackers were not immediately known, but the rescue service said a female paramilitary border police officer was slightly injured.
Earlier on Sunday, a man driving a car with an Israeli license plate was shot dead at a busy intersection in the West Bank, hours after a violent clash elsewhere left seven Palestinians and a border police officer dead.
Palestinians inspect the site where a roadside bomb killed an Israeli paramilitary police officer and wounded three others. AP
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The victim of the drive-by shooting was later identified as a Palestinian resident of Jerusalem. Presumably the attackers mistook him for an Israeli because of the license plates.
Palestinian militants have carried out dozens of shooting attacks against Israelis in the West Bank over the years, and the military described Sunday’s shooting as such an incident.
The Israeli military said security forces were searching the area for the shooter. Israeli media reported that security forces found an abandoned car that was likely used to carry out the attack, and the suspect fled on foot.
Mourners carry the bodies of six Palestinians draped in Hamas flags during their funeral in the West Bank city of Jenin. AP Six Palestinians and a member of Israel’s paramilitary border police were killed in clashes in a flashpoint of violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry and the Israeli military said Sunday. AP
Hours earlier, a deadly clash broke out as Israeli security forces were patrolling for roadside bombs in Jenin, a city and adjacent urban refugee camp in the northern West Bank.
A roadside bomb exploded near a paramilitary border police vehicle, killing a policewoman and wounding three other people, police said.
An Israeli military helicopter attacked Palestinians in the area who were throwing explosives at Israeli vehicles and extracted Israeli forces, the Israeli military said. Seven Palestinians were killed in the airstrike, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
Palestinian gunmen attend the funeral of the six Palestinians. AP
Mujahhid Nazal, a doctor at a nearby clinic, said he heard a “loud explosion” and rushed to the scene. “It was a really terrible situation, seven young people were lying on the ground,” he said.
At the funeral of six of the dead in Jenin, four of the men were draped in the green flags of Hamas, the Islamic militant group that has been locked in a war with Israel in Gaza for the past three months. The other two were covered by the Palestinian flag and the yellow flag of the Fatah movement, a rival to Hamas.
The latest developments follow a dramatic increase in deadly military raids and increased restrictions on Palestinian residents throughout the West Bank during the war between Israel and Hamas.
Israeli security forces examine the scene of a Palestinian shooting attack, near Wadi al-Haramiya, West Bank, Sunday, Jan. 7, 2024. AP
Violence against Palestinians by Israeli settlers in the territory has also reached record levels, according to the United Nations.
The Palestinian Health Ministry says Israeli forces have killed 330 Palestinians in the West Bank since the Hamas cross-border attack in southern Israel on October 7, in which 1,200 people were killed and approximately 250 taken hostage.
Most of the Palestinians were killed during shootings in the West Bank that the Israeli military said began during operations to arrest Palestinian gunmen.
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