Gunmen wound several in attack near Jerusalem: Israeli police

JERUSALEM (AFP): Three gunmen attacked a checkpoint near Jerusalem on Thursday, Israeli police said, wounding several people before the attackers were “neutralized.”

Four people suffered gunshot wounds, including one who was critically injured, said the emergency medical service Magen David Adom in a statement, with another two people lightly wounded.

All those injured were members of security services, according to police.

The attack on a checkpoint guarding access to road tunnels linking the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem came on the 41st day of the war between Israel and Gaza-based Hamas militants.

Israel has vowed to eradicate Hamas in retaliation for the attacks of October 7, which killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, according to Israeli officials.

Hamas also took around 240 hostages, among them young children and elderly people, officials say.

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says the death toll from the military offensive has now topped 11,500, including thousands of children.