© Reuters. A man sits by the Qalandia checkpoint after, according to Israel’s police, a suspected Palestinian gunman opened fire at the Israeli checkpoint in the occupied West Bank, wounding a security guard before he was shot dead by Israeli forces at the scene, Ju
By Ali Sawafta
UMM SAFA, West Bank (Reuters) -A Palestinian militant opened fire at a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank on Saturday before he was shot dead by forces at the scene, Israel’s police said, with settlers later setting fire to houses in a nearby Palestinian village.
Police said a security guard was wounded in the attack at Qalandia checkpoint and distributed a photo of an M-16 rifle used by the gunman who was claimed by Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, an armed group associated with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party.
A few hours later, Israeli settlers torched at least two houses in the Palestinian village Umm Safa near Ramallah, residents said. No casualties were reported.
Israel’s military said one Israeli suspect was arrested after the violence, adding that forces would be boosted to stop further incidents, which it designated as terrorism. Defence Minister Yoav Gallant also condemned the settlers’ assault.
Violence surged this week in the West Bank, where for over a year the military has conducted regular sweeps leading to clashes with Palestinian fighters amid a spate of Palestinian street attacks on Israelis.
The past few days have included 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 expressed concerns about settler attacks on Palestinian villages in a call with his Israeli counterpart, hours after Israel’s far-right police minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called on settlers to expand their presence across the West Bank.
U.S.-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.
Most countries deem the settlements Israel built on land it seized in the 1967 war as illegal, a view Israel disputes.
(Additional reporting and writing by Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem; Editing by Toby Chopra, Ros Russell and Alexander Smith)
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