A Palestinian who approached a military checkpoint and opened fire has ignited another round of violence as Jewish settlers responded with by rampaging through a West Bank village.
The Palestinian gunman’s attack occurred at the Qalandiya checkpoint outside Jerusalem early on Saturday morning, pulled out an M16 rifle and opened fire, the Israeli police said.
Israeli security forces said they shot back, killing the suspected assailant. According to the Israeli rescue service, two security guards in their 20s were hospitalised with minor wounds — at least one from bullet fragments. There was no immediate word on the attacker’s identity.
Later on Saturday, residents of the Palestinian village of Umm Safa said that some 50 Israeli settlers armed with rifles and flammable liquid stormed through the streets and tried to set fire to at least five homes with people inside.
The Israeli military said it sent security forces to the scene and arrested an Israeli citizen.
Palestinian rescue teams said they evacuated small children who were suffocating and trapped inside a burning house. Some settlers also opened fire at civilians and medics.
Palestine TV, said settlers fired at Mohammed Radi, its correspondent covering the attacks, shattering his camera. The Palestinian Red Crescent said that one of its medics was wounded by gunfire.
Another two medics were wounded when settlers threw a large rock at an ambulance, which crashed through the windshield.
Israeli settlers also shot and killed a horse in the village, said resident Ibrahim Ebiat.
“This is pure terror. People are scared and angry,” he said.
Young Palestinians threw rocks at Israeli security forces who opened fire and unleashed tear gas at them, witnesses said. The Israeli military said it was “working to disperse the friction.” One soldier was wounded by a thrown stone, it said, denouncing the violence.
The head of the Israeli opposition, Yair Lapid, called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “condemn this disgrace and deal with it properly.”
“Settler violence has crossed every line,” he said.
The events capped a bloody week in the West Bank that left 16 Palestinians and four Israelis dead.
-with AAP
