6 injured, 1 critically, in attack by 3 gunmen at West Bank checkpoint near Jerusalem

Six people were wounded, including one critically, in a shooting attack targeting the “tunnels” checkpoint on the West Bank’s Route 60, south of Jerusalem, police and medics said Thursday morning.

The Magen David Adom (MDA) ambulance service said medics treated the injured, including one in critical condition, a man in his 20s who was taken to the capital’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center as medics fought to save his life.

Two others, a young woman aged around 20 and a man aged 32, were in moderate condition, and a man aged around 20 suffered light gunshot injuries, MDA said, adding that they had been taken to either Shaare Zedek or Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital.

Three more people were treated for acute anxiety following the attack, according to MDA.

Shaare Zedek and Hadassah each said they had received three people with gunshot wounds. Police said the six gunshot victims were members of security forces, while at least two civilians were treated at the scene for acute anxiety.

Weapons apparently used by perpetrators of a shooting attack at a West Bank checkpoint south of Jerusalem on November 16, 2023 (Israel Police)

Security forces were scanning the area for more possible assailants, and after a search ruled out the possibility that an explosive device had been left at the scene.

Police said the car in which the assailants arrived had false license plates, and their identities were under examination.

Police’s Jerusalem District Commander Doron Turgeman arrived at the scene and praised the officers’ swift reaction to the attack.

All roads leading to the portion of Route 60 known as the “tunnels road” were temporarily blocked, leading to heavy traffic, but were set to be reopened, police said.

The attack occurred amid the war between Israel and the Hamas terror group in the Gaza Strip following the latter’s October 7 massacres in southern Israel, and amid growing tensions and several recent Palestinian attacks on Israelis in the West Bank and in Jerusalem.