Three Israelis were shot dead today by a Palestinian at the entrance to the Jewish settlement of Har Adara in the occupied West Bank near Jerusalem, Israeli police have said.
The gunman, identified in the Israeli media as Nimer Jamal, a 37-year-old from a nearby village, was also shot and died later.
The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed the incident on Palestinian incitement, which came as Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt arrived in Jerusalem to attempt to revive dormant peace talks between the two sides.
Police say Jamal struck after he raised the suspicions of security personnel at a rear gate at Har Adar.
He shot two security guards and a border policeman at close-range and seriously wounded another person, before being shot by security forces, the police said.
According to Israeli officials, the gunman was a father-of-four who had an Israeli permit to work in Jewish settlements along the boundary of the West Bank.
He came from the village of Beit Surik, about a mile east of Har Adar. The area is around 11 miles north-west of Jerusalem.
Hamas, based in Gaza, and Islamic Jihad welcomed the attack, though no group has so far taken responsibility for it.
Fatah, the political faction of the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said that Israel bore responsibility for the attack, because of its 'continuous aggression' against the Palestinians.
Meanwhile, Netanyahu said that the attacker's home would be demolished and relatives' work permits revoked. He called on Abbas to condemn the attack unequivocally.
Around 36,000 Palestinians have permits to work in the controversial Jewish settlements, which are deemed illegal under international law, though that is disputed by Israel. More than 600,000 Jews live in about 140 settlements built since Israel's occupation in 1967 of the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
