Three Israelis killed in shooting at West Bank crossing

Three Israelis have been killed in a shooting attack at a crossing between Israel and the West Bank, according to police.

Spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the incident happened at Har Adar, an Israeli settlement located on the border.

The attacker came to the back gate of the settlement — which is opened every morning to allow Palestinians to enter Israel for work — and opened fire on security forces there, according to police.

Two Israeli security guards and one border policeman were killed, Rosenfeld said, adding heightened security was being put in place in nearby Jerusalem.

He named the dead border policeman as 20-year-old Sergeant Solomon Gavria.
Rosenfeld told CNN that he understood the shooter was a “lone wolf” attacker and was not affiliated to any terrorist organizations.

One person was also injured, suffering a bullet wound to the stomach, according to paramedics.

Rosenfeld said the alleged attacker, a 37-year-old Palestinian man from the village of Beit Surik, was killed by police. He shot the security forces with a pistol, Rosenfeld said.

A paramedic on the scene, Nir Buzaglo, said the four victims were in their 20s and 30s.

Israel’s Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman condemned the attack and promised his country would “chase down the terrorists, those that send them and those that incite them.”

Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin said in a statement his heart went out to the families of those shot dead in the attack.

“Such a brutal terror attack once again shows the daily frontline on which our security forces stand, charged today with the most important mission — the safeguarding and defense of the citizens of Israel,” he said.

Nickolay Mladenov, the United Nations special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, condemned the shooting and criticized Hamas for praising the attack.

“It is deplorable that Hamas and others continue to glorify such attacks, which undermine the possibility of a peaceful future for both Palestinians and Israelis,” Mladenov said in a statement.

“I urge all to condemn violence and stand up to terror.”
It comes just two months after two police officers were shot dead in an attack in Jerusalem’s Old City, close to one of the world’s most important religious sites.

Three attackers, who police identified as terrorists, were killed in the incident.

(CNN)