UPDATE 2 - 3 Israeli police officers killed in shooting in southern occupied West Bank

ADDS DETAILS; CHANGES HEAD, LEDE

By Anadolu staff

Three Israeli police officers were killed Sunday in a shooting near Hebron, a city in the southern occupied West Bank, according to official sources.

"The three individuals killed in the shooting attack that took place on Sunday morning near the Tarqumiyah checkpoint in Hebron are police officers," the army radio quoted Israeli Police Inspector Gen. Daniel Levy as saying.

The Israeli ambulance service confirmed that a man and a woman, both in their thirties, were pronounced dead at the scene of the attack. A third victim, a man in his fifties, was taken to a hospital in serious condition. He then was pronounced dead.

Israeli daily Haaretz cited a security source who reported that “several gunmen opened fire toward a car on Route 35.” The source added that Israeli forces are actively pursuing the shooters, though no further details were provided.

The incident comes following the Israeli army's storming of Hebron, during which they closed the Ibrahimi Mosque, barred worshipers from entering, and conducted raids and searches of homes.

Earlier reports from the daily Yedioth Ahronoth indicated that the incident occurred near the Tarqumiyah checkpoint, north of Hebron, and involved gunfire targeting a bus, leading to multiple injuries.

Israeli Army Radio said the gunmen "opened fire about one kilometer (0.62 miles) from the Tarqumiyah checkpoint in Hebron."

"The pursuit of the gunmen is still ongoing," it added, reporting that the Israeli army conducted raids in the Palestinian town of Idhna near the site of the incident.

Eyewitnesses told Anadolu that "the Israeli army closed the northern entrances to Hebron and the entrances to the towns of Idhna and Tarqumiyah near the site of the incident, while military forces raided the two towns amid the hovering of a helicopter and surveillance drones over the western towns of Hebron province."

Idhna Mayor Jaber Al-Tamizi told Anadolu that "occupation forces raided the town, deployed their forces, and completely closed it off."

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said in a brief statement that its teams in Hebron transferred to the hospital "an individual with gunshot wounds to the arms and legs near the Tarqumiyah checkpoint," noting that clashes had erupted in the area.

The Tarqumiyah attack follows another violent incident on Saturday, where three Israeli officers, including a brigade commander, were injured in a car bomb explosion at the Gush Etzion junction in the southern occupied West Bank. The explosion coincided with an assault on the nearby Karmei Tzur illegal settlement.

The violence comes as the Israeli army continues a devastating military operation in the northern West Bank, the largest since 2002. The operation, ongoing since Wednesday, has resulted in the deaths of at least 26 Palestinians, according to Israeli military sources.

Tensions remain high across the occupied West Bank amid the Israeli onslaught on the Gaza Strip, which has claimed nearly 40,700 Palestinian lives, mostly women and children, since October 7 of last year.

Palestinian sources report that in the same period, at least 676 Palestinians have been killed, nearly 5,400 injured, and over 10,300 arrested in the West Bank.

The escalation follows a significant ruling by the International Court of Justice on July 19, which declared Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian territories unlawful and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

*Writing by Ikram Kouachi