JERUSALEM: Israeli police on Sunday opened fire on a pair of suspected attackers who crashed their car into a West Bank checkpoint, killing a Palestinian girl in an adjacent vehicle, police and medical officials said.
Both suspects were also shot, while a young police officer was slightly injured.
The Sunday afternoon incident came hours after nine people were killed in other unrest in the occupied territories, which have seen a surge in violence since Israel’s war against Hamas erupted on Oct. 7.
Israeli police said the clash took place at a checkpoint near the Palestinian village of Biddu, just northwest of Jerusalem.
Security camera footage shows a white car hitting a pair of Israeli policemen at a checkpoint. Police then chased the vehicle, opening fire.
Mourners react to the bodies of six Palestinians, who were draped in Hamas flags during their funeral in the West Bank city of Jenin on Sunday, Jan. 7, 2024. AP Israeli security forces inspect the scene of a Palestinian shooting attack, near Wadi al-Haramiya, West Bank, Sunday, Jan. 7, 2024. AP Israeli soldiers stand guard next to the scene of a Palestinian shooting attack, near Wadi al-Haramiya, West Bank, Sunday, Jan. 7, 2024. AP
Police said a man and woman in the car were shot, but a girl in the van in front of them was also shot. The girl, who was reportedly 3 or 4 years old, was pronounced dead by Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service.
Police said a preliminary investigation found that “during the quick action of the officers towards the terrorist vehicle, the vehicle carrying the child may have been affected.” They promised a “thorough investigation.”
The condition of the suspected attacker was not immediately known, but rescue services said a female officer in the paramilitary border police was lightly 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 violent confrontations elsewhere left seven Palestinians and a border policeman dead.
Palestinians inspect the site where a roadside bomb killed an Israeli paramilitary police officer and wounded three others. AP
Keep up with the news on the Israel-Hamas war and the surge in global antisemitism with The Post’s Israel War Updates, delivered straight to your inbox every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
The victim in the drive-by shooting was later identified as a Palestinian resident of Jerusalem. The attackers may have mistaken him for an Israeli because of the license plate.
Palestinian militants have carried out several shooting attacks on Israelis in the West Bank over the years, and the military described Sunday’s shooting as one such incident.
The Israeli army said security forces were searching the area for the shooter. Israeli media reported that security forces found an abandoned car that may have been used to carry out the attack, and that 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 an Israeli paramilitary border policeman were killed in confrontations in a hotbed of violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry and the Israeli army said Sunday. AP
Hours earlier, deadly confrontations erupted as Israeli security forces patrolled for roadside bombs in Jenin, a town and neighboring city refugee camp in the northern West Bank.
A roadside bomb exploded near a paramilitary border police vehicle, killing a policewoman and injuring three others, police said.
Israeli military helicopters targeted Palestinians in the area who threw explosives at Israeli vehicles and took out Israeli soldiers, the Israeli army said. Seven Palestinians were killed in the airstrikes, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
Palestinian gunmen attended the funeral of 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 very bad situation, seven young men lying on the ground,” he said.
At the funeral of six of those killed in Jenin, four of the men were draped in the green flag of Hamas, the Islamist militant group that has been locked in war with Israel in Gaza for the past three months. The other two are covered with the Palestinian flag and the yellow banner of the Fatah movement, a rival of Hamas.
The latest developments follow a dramatic surge in deadly military raids and increased restrictions on Palestinians across the West Bank during the Israel-Hamas war.
Israeli security forces inspect the scene of a Palestinian shooting attack, near Wadi al-Haramiya, West Bank, Sunday, January 7, 2024. AP
Violence against Palestinians by Israeli settlers in the region has also reached a record high, according to the United Nations.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said Israeli forces have killed 330 Palestinians in the West Bank since a cross-border Hamas attack in southern Israel on October 7, in which 1,200 people were killed and about 250 were taken hostage.
Most of the Palestinians were killed during a shootout in the West Bank that Israeli forces said began during an operation to arrest Palestinian gunmen.
Categories: Trending
Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
