Palestinian gunman kills three at West Bank settlement

A Palestinian gunman killed three Israeli guards and wounded a fourth in an attack on a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday before he was shot dead, police  said.

The attacker was a 37-year-old Palestinian, police spokeswoman Luba Samri said, who approached the back gate entrance of the Har Adar settlement, hiding among fellow Palestinian day labourers who were being checked by security forces. 

He aroused the suspicion of private guards and paramilitary Israeli police posted at the entrance checkpoint.

Challenged to halt, the Palestinian "opened his shirt, drew a pistol and fired at the security staff and troopers at close range", Samri said. She provided a handout photograph of his small-calibre firearm and two bullet clips.

TRT World's Christine Pirovolakis has this report.

The shooter was identified by the police to be from Beit Surik, a Palestinian village near Har Adar, who carried a work permit for the settlement.

The Magen David Adom medical service said the three men who were killed were in their 20s and 30s. The wounded Israeli was admitted to Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem in a serious condition, the hospital said.

The incident, at a settlement northwest of Jerusalem that lies near several Palestinian villages, comes nearly two years after a wave of unrest broke out.

The attack, which came as US envoy Jason Greenblatt was in Jerusalem for talks on relaunching the moribund Middle East peace process, drew condemnation from Israeli officials who demanded action from the Palestinian leadership.

A bloody history

Since September 2015, Israeli forces have killed over 255 Palestinians.

Israel says most of them were attackers and others died in clashes with Israeli forces. 

In the same period, Palestinians have killed 48 Israelis, two visiting Americans and a British tourist.