Israeli police say officers shot two of the gunmen and a third tried to escape but was found and arrested.
At least one person was killed and eight injured when three Palestinian gunmen opened fire on motorists near an Israeli checkpoint near occupied East Jerusalem, Israeli police said.
The head of Israel’s ambulance service, Eli Bean, told the Kan public broadcaster that two women were seriously injured in Thursday’s attack.
Israeli police said the attackers took advantage of slow morning traffic on the central highway east of Jerusalem, near the Maale Adumim settlement in the occupied West Bank, and opened fire with automatic weapons on cars waiting near a checkpoint.
A police spokesman said the gunmen were Palestinians, but gave no further details. Police also said two gunmen were killed and a third arrested.
In response to the attack, far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said Palestinians’ freedom of movement should be restricted.
“Our right to life takes precedence over the freedom of movement of Palestinians,” he said, according to Israeli media.
“I will fight for barriers around villages that will limit the freedom of movement of Palestinian Authority residents.”
The Palestinian armed group Hamas, which governs Gaza, said the attack was a “natural response to the massacres and crimes of the (Israeli) occupation in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.”
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich demanded approval of a plan to build thousands of new illegal Israeli settlements in Maale Adumim and nearby areas in response to the shooting.
“The serious attack on Maale Adumim must have a decisive security response but also a response from the colonies,” he wrote on X.
“Our enemies know that any harm done to us would result in more construction, more development and more control over the entire country. »
Tensions in the occupied West Bank have escalated since the start of the Israeli war against Gaza on October 7, following Hamas attacks which killed 1,139 people, according to Israeli figures.
Israeli airstrikes and ground offensive in Gaza since those attacks have killed more than 29,000 Palestinians and injured nearly 70,000 people, according to Palestinian health authorities, and reduced much of the enclave to rubble.
Reporting from occupied East Jerusalem, Tel Aviv Tribune’s Willem Marx said the attack is an “indication of the frustration felt by many people in the occupied West Bank and those facing difficulties accessing the Al-Qaeda mosque.” Aqsa in this very, very difficult time.” .
“This is something that reflects a period in history decades ago where these types of attacks were incredibly common in and around Jerusalem,” Marx said, adding that there had been “several incidents similar” recently in the West Bank and around illegal settlements.
The shooting “so close to Jerusalem, at a busy hour in the morning, next to a major checkpoint where there would be a huge security presence, is an indication of this frustration,” Marx reported.
Last week, two people were killed by gunmen who police suspect were Palestinians at a bus stop in southern Israel.
