Palestinian gunman opens fire at Israeli checkpoint, shot dead by troops, police say

According to Israeli police, a Palestinian terrorist opened fire at an Israeli checkpoint in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, wounded a security guard before being shot dead by troops on the scene.

The gunman was a member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, an armed organisation affiliated with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party. He was recognised as an 18-year-old from Kafr Aqab by the official Palestinian news agency WAFA.

Police released a photo of an M-16 weapon that they believe was used by the shooter.

This week, violence erupted in the West Bank, where the military has been conducting regular sweeps for over a year, resulting in frequent battles with Palestinian fighters amid a wave of Palestinian street assaults on Israelis.

The past few days saw deadly clashes in the city of Jenin, a fatal Palestinian shooting attack near a settlement, attacks on Palestinian villages by settlers and a rare Israeli air strike in the West Bank against militants.

On Friday, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan encouraged more steps to restore calm between Israel and the Palestinians during a call with his Israeli counterpart, the White House said.

US-brokered peace talks between the Palestinians and Israel aimed at establishing a Palestinian state in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza, collapsed in 2014 and show no sign of revival.

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