- Police said the gunmen opened fire with automatic weapons on several vehicles
- The incident took place near the settlement of Maale Adumim, east of Jerusalem
One person was killed and another seven injured by gunmen who opened fire in the West Bank today, Israeli police said.
The three gunmen opened fire with automatic weapons on several vehicles near a Jewish settlement before the trio were “neutralized,” police said.
Police called the incident a “terror attack.”
The incident took place near the Maale Adumim settlement, east of Jerusalem, police said, adding that the attackers arrived in a vehicle.
“The three terrorists… got out of their vehicle and started shooting with automatic weapons at vehicles stuck in traffic on the road towards Jerusalem,” the force said in a statement.
‘Two terrorists were neutralized on the spot. During the on-site searches, another terrorist was found trying to escape and he was also neutralized.”
Eight people with varying degrees of injuries were evacuated from the scene by medics, police said, and one was reported dead.
Police said the attackers took advantage of slow morning traffic on the highway east of Jerusalem around 7:30 a.m. and opened fire with automatic weapons on cars waiting at a checkpoint.
Photos of the aftermath showed Israeli security forces standing around several covered bodies on the road, surrounded by stationary vehicles.
Israeli security forces investigate the scene of a shooting near the Maale Adumim settlement in the West Bank, Thursday, February 22, 2024
Thursday’s attack came after Benny Gantz, a member of Israel’s war cabinet, said late Wednesday that new efforts were underway to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that could halt the war in Gaza.
But unless Hamas agrees to release the remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza, he said, Israel will launch a ground offensive against the busy southern city of Rafah during the upcoming Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Israel’s war in Gaza has driven about 80 percent of its 2.3 million residents from their homes. Most obeyed Israeli orders to flee south and about 1.5 million people are crammed into Rafah, near the border with Egypt.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostage.
About a quarter of the approximately 130 prisoners still held are believed to be dead. In response, Israel destroyed much of Palestinian territory.
Gaza’s Health Ministry estimates that more than 29,000 Palestinians have been killed.
This is a breaking news story. More to follow…