No Israeli injuries were reported after three Palestinians opened fire.
Weapons seized from terrorists who attacked a Border Police base, Salem, West Bank, May 7, 2021
(photo credit: BORDER POLICE SPOKESPERSON)
Two Palestinians were killed and a third seriously wounded after opening fire towards a Border Police officer base in the northern West Bank on Friday, the last day of Ramadan.
The three terrorists, all three of them armed with Carlo submachine guns and knives, opened fire on the gate of the Salem base before being shot by Border Police officers. There were no injuries to any Israeli forces. The third Palestinian attacker was evacuated to Emek Medical Center in Afula
“The terrorists fired at the gate of the base. Border Police officers and an IDF soldier responded by firing and neutralizing the three terrorists,” Israel police said in a statement.
The attack came as Israeli security forces increased their alert level as a number of flashpoint events centered around Jerusalem are set to take place.
Earlier in the day, the Border Police arrested a 27-year-old Hebron resident for attempting to carry out a stabbing attack in the Cave of the Patriarchs. The woman approached the checkpoint, appearing stressed and frightened, and upon inspection a knife was found in her bag.
Though the IDF had already bolstered its troops for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, concerned that violence might erupt, the deadly shooting attack and a rare statement threatening Israel by Hamas terror chief Mohamed Deif led the military to prepare for a range of possible scenarios both in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Incendiary balloons launched from the blockaded coastal enclave resumed in recent days, setting fire to agricultural land in southern Israel.
Jerusalem Day and Laylat al-Qadr, a major holy night of Ramadan, fall on Sunday evening. Eid al-Fitr is on Wednesday, marking the end of Ramadan. Then Quds Day, a holiday made up by Iran to express support for Palestinians against Israel, is on Friday and Nakba Day, on which Palestinians mark the “catastrophe” of Israel’s establishment, is on Saturday.
Those commemorations are compounded by the cancellation of the Palestinian elections and the possible culmination of a longstanding property dispute between Jews and Arabs with the eviction of dozens of Palestinians from their homes in East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, known as Shimon Hatzadik in Hebrew, putting police and the IDF on high alert for clashes and additional attacks.
Deif, the head of Hamas’ armed wing the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam brigades, warned that should the evictions take place Israel would “pay a heavy price.”
“This is our final warning; If the aggression against our people in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood does not stop immediately, we will not stand idly by and the occupation will pay a heavy price,” he warned.
The IDF’s Central Command has been on guard for attacks by Hamas supporters in the West Bank, where the Fatah Party of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas risked losing power to the Islamist group had elections taken place.
Hamas called the cancellation of the elections a “coup” and according to Walla! News, the terror group is expected to try to provoke riots.
