JERUSALEM – Israeli police on Sunday opened fire on a pair of suspects who drove into a checkpoint in the West Bank, killing a Palestinian girl in an adjacent vehicle, police and medical officials said.
Two suspects were also shot, and a young police officer was slightly injured.
Sunday night's incident came hours after nine people were killed in separate violence in the occupied territory since fighting between Israel and Hamas broke out on October 7. Violence has escalated in the region since the outbreak of Israel's war against Hamas.
Israeli police said the incident occurred at a checkpoint near the Palestinian village of Bidu, northwest of Jerusalem.
Security camera footage showed a white car plowing into two Israeli police officers at a checkpoint. Police then pursued the vehicle and opened fire.
Police said a man and a woman inside the car were shot, as well as a girl in a van in front of them. The girl, who was believed to be 3 or 4 years old, was pronounced dead by Israel's Magen David Adom rescue team.
Police said a preliminary investigation found that “a vehicle carrying a child may have been affected while officers were responding rapidly towards the terrorist's vehicle.” They promised a “thorough investigation.”
The condition of the suspected attackers was not immediately known, but rescue services said a female police officer from the paramilitary Border Police had sustained minor injuries.
A man driving a car with Israeli license plates was shot and killed at a busy intersection in the West Bank early Sunday morning, and violent clashes elsewhere killed seven Palestinians and a border police officer. This happened several hours after the person died.
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The victim of the drive-by shooting was later identified as a Palestinian resident of Jerusalem. The attackers probably mistook him for an Israeli because of his license plate.
Palestinian militants have carried out numerous shootings against Israelis in the West Bank over the years, and the military described Sunday's shooting as one such incident.
The Israeli military said its security forces were searching for the gunman. Israeli media reported that security forces found an abandoned car believed to have been used in the attack, and that the suspects fled on foot.
Hours earlier, deadly clashes broke out as Israeli security forces were patrolling the northern West Bank town of Jenin and an adjoining urban refugee camp to search for roadside bombs.
A roadside bomb exploded near a paramilitary border police vehicle, killing a female police officer and injuring three others, police said.
According to the Israeli military, Israeli military helicopters targeted Palestinians in the area who were throwing explosives at Israeli military vehicles, dislodging Israeli troops. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, seven Palestinians were killed in the airstrike.
Mujahid Nazar, a doctor at a nearby clinic, said he rushed to the scene after hearing a “strong explosion.” “It was a really tragic situation. There were seven young people lying on the ground,” he said.
At the funerals of six of the six people killed in Jenin, four of the men wrapped green flags of Hamas, the Islamic militant group that has been at war with Israel in Gaza for the past three months. The other two were draped in the Palestinian flag and the yellow flag of Hamas' rival Fatah movement.
The incident comes after a dramatic increase in deadly military attacks and tightening of restrictions against Palestinian residents across the West Bank during the Israel-Hamas war.
Violence against Palestinians by Israeli settlers in the territory has also reached an all-time high, according to the United Nations.
The Palestinian Health Ministry says Israeli forces have killed 330 Palestinians in the West Bank since October 7, when Hamas carried out cross-border attacks in southern Israel, leaving 1,200 dead and about 250 dead. It was announced that he had been taken hostage.
Most of the Palestinians were killed in a gunfight in the West Bank, which the Israeli military says started during an operation to apprehend a group of Palestinian militants.
