Jerusalem (AFP) - A suspected Palestinian gunman wounded two Israeli men near a Jewish site in annexed east Jerusalem on Tuesday, Israeli authorities said, with security forces conducting a manhunt for the perpetrator.
The shooting comes amid a period of deadly attacks and military raids across the occupied West Bank, along with killings in Israel.
Israeli police announced a suspected "shooting terror attack" in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of east Jerusalem targeting two motorists, who according to medics were rushed to hospital.
"Police officers are at the scene conducting searches for the suspect who fled," the force said in a statement.
Israeli security forces closed off streets in the neighbourhood, where an AFP journalist saw officers entering a Palestinian home, with a drone and helicopter as well as police dogs aiding the search.
Officers enforcing the shutdown prevented cars and people from moving in the centre of the neighbourhood, as heavily armed forces combed the area.
Police announced they had found the perpetrator's gun near the scene of the attack, which took place near the tomb of Simeon the Just -- Shimon Hatzadik in Hebrew -- a site frequented by religious Jews.
The weapon was identified as a Carlo makeshift submachine gun, which Palestinians manufacture in the West Bank.
Hadassah hospital said they received a 48-year-old gunshot victim lightly wounded, and Shaare Zedek medical centre said it was treating a man in his 50s in moderate condition.
Rising death toll
The search was punctuated by the 10:00 am (0700 GMT) two-minute siren marking Israel's Holocaust Remembrance Day, honouring more than six million Jews killed by the Nazis during World War II.
Jerusalem mayor Moshe Lion, speaking at a city hall ceremony, said one of the Holocaust's main lessons was "to never be helpless in the face of those seeking to harm us".
Later in the morning, most of the security forces had left Sheikh Jarrah, with roads reopened and traffic flowing as normal, the AFP journalist said.
Sheikh Jarrah was the focal point of protests against the eviction of Palestinian residents by Israeli settler organisations in the build up to and during the May 2021 war between Israel and Gaza militants.
It is also the site of a weekly Israeli demonstration against the occupation of the Palestinian territories.
The attack took place a day after a Palestinian woman stabbed and moderately wounded an Israeli man at the Gush Etzion junction in the southern West Bank.
The woman was shot by security forces and taken to hospital in moderate condition.
The conflict has this year claimed the lives of at least 96 Palestinians, 19 Israelis, one Ukrainian and one Italian, according to an AFP count based on Israeli and Palestinian official sources.
These figures include, on the Palestinian side, combatants and civilians, including minors, and on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, including minors, and three members of the Arab minority.
