Israeli troops hunt for shooter in Jerusalem checkpoint attack

Israeli police arrested at least three Palestinian suspects on Sunday in connection with a deadly shooting at a Jerusalem checkpoint, as security forces searched for the suspected gunman.

The shooter opened fire on a military checkpoint in east Jerusalem late Saturday, killing an Israeli soldier and wounding three other soldiers, one of them seriously. The Israeli military identified the soldier as 18-year-old Noa Lazar.

It was the latest bloodshed in the deadliest year in the West Bank since 2015, marked by near-nightly raids in Palestinian cities and villages in the occupied territory. It also came less than a day before Israel was to begin celebrating the weeklong Sukkot holiday, a time when tens of thousands of Jews visit the holy city.

More than 100 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli raids on Palestinian towns and refugee camps in the West Bank since the beginning of the yearhttps://t.co/ytqjiNwacI

— The New Arab (@The_NewArab) October 9, 2022

The attack followed the killing of two Palestinian teenagers by Israeli forces during a raid in the occupied West Bank. A day earlier, two other Palestinian teenagers, ages 14 and 17, were killed by Israeli forces in separate incidents elsewhere in the West Bank.

Rights groups accuse Israeli forces of using excessive force in their dealings with the Palestinians, particularly young men, without being held accountable. 

Israel has occupied Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza since 1967. Palestinians living in Jerusalem are routinely subjected to brutality at the hands of Israeli soldiers, including forced evictions from their family homes.

Police said a large force of officers, soldiers and Shin Bet security agency operatives were involved in the search to apprehend Saturday's attacker.

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid offered condolences to Lazar's family. "We will not be silent and we will not rest until we bring the abominable killers to justice," he said.