Click to see full-size image. (Israeli Police)
An Israeli man was killed and 11 others were wounded on February 22 when three Palestinian gunmen opened fire near a checkpoint between Jerusalem and the West Bank settlement of Ma’ale Adumim.
Israeli Police said that the gunmen opened fire with automatic weapons at Israelis waiting in traffic while heading toward Jerusalem on the Route 1 highway, a few hundred meters before the al-Za’ayyem checkpoint.
Two of the gunmen were shot dead by security forces and armed civilians at the scene. The third gunman initially fled, before being “neutralized” a short while later. His condition was not immediately known. The term neutralized could mean that he was wounded and captured.
The Magen David Adom (MDA), Israel’s main ambulance service, said that its medics treated a total of 12 people, including the man in his 20s who was declared dead at the scene.
A pregnant woman aged 23 was listed in serious condition, and four others were in moderate condition, including a woman in her 30s, a man aged 23, a man aged 51, and a woman aged 52, according to the ambulance service.
Another five people were treated for minor injuries and acute anxiety, MDA added. All the casualties were taken to hospitals in Jerusalem.
The Shin Bet security agency identified the gunmen as Muhammad Zawahra, 26, and his brother Kathem Zawahra, 31, both residents of the village of Ta’amra, and Ahmed al-Wahsh, 31, a resident of the village of Za’atara.
The Hamas Movement issued a statement praising the attack and called the deadly shooting “a natural response” to the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, which has so far claimed the lives of more than 29,000 Palestinains.
“The heroic operation is a natural response to the Occupation’s massacres and crimes in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank,” the group said.
The Israeli military and security services stepped up operations throughout the occupied West Bank after the start of the war in Gaza, killing more than 300 Palestinians and arresting many others. However, the security situation in Israel is only getting worse.
Last week, two Israelis were killed and four others were wounded when a Palestinian gunman opened fire at Re’em Junction near the southern Israeli city of Kiryat Malachi.
