Border Police officers killed one passenger after firing at a Palestinian
vehicle traveling toward a checkpoint near Ma’aleh Adumim on Sunday
night.
A Border Police spokesman said the driver failed to stop his car
despite repeated warnings by the officers. Palestinian paramedics evacuated two
Palestinians to a Ramallah hospital, while a third, who was severely wounded,
was rushed to Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem’s Ein Kerem, but
did not survive.
A Border Police officer, lightly injured by shrapnel,
was taken to Hadassah University Medical Center on Jerusalem’s Mount
Scopus.
A spokesman for the Border Police stated that the Palestinians
“had intent to harm the officers.”
Bethlehem-based news agency Ma’an
quoted one of the men from the van saying it was transporting 13 workers to
Jerusalem.
The driver of the van received a message from another driver
that the soldiers at the checkpoint were being strict and decided to take
another route, Khaled Abdullah told Ma’an.
“As the driver started to
turn, Border Police opened fire at the car without asking the driver to stop,”
he said.
Forces searched the vehicle and opened an investigation into the
incident.
Reuters contributed to this report.