Gunmen in West Bank kill one Israeli and wound five
Israeli police said one Israeli was killed and five wounded after three gunmen opened fire on cars near a checkpoint in the West Bank on Thursday.
Police said the gunmen took advantage of the traffic jam during the morning rush-hour on the main highway east of Jerusalem, opening fire with automatic weapons at several cars.
Security forces on the scene, including a policeman on his way to work, killed two of the gunmen. The third fled but was soon apprehended by police and detained after being wounded. The police said the gunmen were from the Bethlehem area.
The killed Israeli was a 20-yearold man. Five others were wounded, including a pregnant woman in her 20s who was in critical but stable condition, according to health officials.
There have been a number of shooting attacks against Israeli civilians since the war began in Gaza, including a shooting and car ramming attack in a suburb north of Tel Aviv last month that killed one person and injured 12.
Israel’s national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, visited the scene and called for more checkpoints and restrictions on Palestinians in the West Bank, as well as more weapons for Israeli civilians.
“We are distributing more and more guns, there were some people who criticized me on this policy half a year ago, I think that today everyone understands that guns save lives,” he said.
Hamas terrorists in a statement praised the attack as a “natural response” to Israel’s ongoing war in
Gaza and raids in the West Bank, and called for more attacks.