JERUSALEM, ISRAEL – Israeli police officers opened fire at a pair of suspected attackers who rammed their car into a West Bank checkpoint on Sunday, resulting in the fatal shooting of a young Palestinian girl in a nearby vehicle. The two suspects were also shot, while a young police officer sustained minor injuries. The incident occurred just hours after nine people were killed in other violent confrontations in the occupied territory.
The ramming occurred at a checkpoint near the Palestinian village of Biddu, just northwest of Jerusalem, according to Israeli police. Security camera footage captured a white van plowing into Israeli police at the checkpoint, prompting officers to chase after the vehicle and open fire.
In addition to the suspects being shot, a young girl in another vehicle in front of them was also struck by gunfire. Tragically, the girl, who was reported to be 3 or 4 years old, was pronounced dead by Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service. The conditions of the suspected attackers were not immediately known, but it was reported that a female officer in the paramilitary border police was lightly wounded.
Earlier on the same day, a man driving a car with Israeli license plates was fatally shot at a busy intersection in the West Bank, following a violent confrontation elsewhere that left seven Palestinians and a border policewoman dead.
The latest events marked a surge in deadly military raids and an increase in restrictions on Palestinian residents across the West Bank during the Israel-Hamas war. According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, Israeli forces have killed 330 Palestinians in the West Bank since Hamas’ cross-border attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7, in which 1,200 people were killed and roughly 250 were taken hostage.
Most of the Palestinians were killed during shootouts in the West Bank that the Israeli military says began during operations to arrest Palestinian gunmen.