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Photos:
Sgt. Noa Lazar, 18. Published by Haaretz and IMEMC News

Footage from the security cameras of the deadly attack at the checkpoint near Shoafat, East Jerusalem, on Saturday. Published by Haaretz

Security forces operating in Shuafat refugee camp, East Jerusalem, on Saturday night. Credit: Police spokesperson Unit Published by Haaretz
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The gunman who opened fire at the Shoafat refugee camp checkpoint, killing an Israeli soldier, remains at large

by Josh Breiner, Yael Freidson, Jack Khoury, and Yaniv Kubovich for Haaretz
Oct 8, 2022

East Jerusalem's Shoafat refugee camp is swarming with Israeli soldiers, where a manhunt is underway for the suspect behind a drive-by shooting that left an Israeli solder dead and several others wounded on Saturday evening.

The army identified the soldier on Sunday as 18-year-old Sgt. Noa Lazar, who was posthumously promoted to the rank of sergeant. The gunman, who is still at large, has been identified as 22-year-old Palestinian Udi Tamimi from Shoafat in East Jerusalem.

Israeli investigators say that Tamimi got out of the car, approached the security forces at the checkpoint with a pistol and shot at Lazar and another security guard at point-blank range. He then fled on foot to the Shoafat refugee camp, where a manhunt for Tamimi has been underway since.

Tamimi initially opened fire at a group of soldiers, who began to flee before firing back at the gunman, who managed to escape unharmed.

Lazar was pronounced dead upon arrival at Hadassah University Hospital on Mount Scopus. The 30-year-old contract security guard who was seriously wounded underwent surgery Saturday night. Two border police officers sustained less serious injuries from shrapnel in the attack.

Tamimi has no past record of related crime and is not affiliated with any Palestinian organization, a security source told Haaretz, but he does have a criminal record for weapons-related offenses and home break-ins. Several members of his family were questioned on Sunday.

On Sunday, Palestinian witnesses reported intense clashes between raiding Israeli forces and residents of the Shoafat camp, where police have blocked entrances. Dozens of young people are responding to the ongoing manhunt with stones and fireworks.

An accomplice who allegedly transported the gunman turned himself in, according to a police official. Three other passengers who were with the gunman were arrested, the police said. All four have denied responsibility for the shooting, claiming they did not know the gunman's intentions when he got in the car. They say that he stepped out of the vehicle of his own accord and opened fire. A Jerusalem court extended the detention of the four suspects to October 16th on Sunday.

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades released a message claiming responsibility for the incident. The armed faction said that the shooting was a response to attacks on the organization and promised that more would follow.

The Al-Nasser Salah al-Deen Brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, which operates primarily in Gaza, also claimed responsibility for the attack in a video message. However, Palestinian sources widely believe the assailant acted independently of any armed group.

Security forces have been placed on the highest state of alert following a spike in the number of warnings of possible Palestinian attacks, and particular concern that the recent clashes in the West Bank between Palestinians and Israeli troops could spread to the Jerusalem area.

On Saturday evening, Prime Minister Yair Lapid issued a statement in which he called the incident "grave" and added, "My heart is with the wounded and their families this evening. Terror will not defeat us; even on this difficult evening, we are strong."

The UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Tor Wennesland, issued a statement expressing alarm at the "deteriorating security situation, including the rise in armed clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem." He urged Israeli and Palestinian authorities to "restore calm and avoid further escalations."

Police sources say that Saturday's attack underlines a weakness that has been apparent in the combined staffing of checkpoints at entrances to Jerusalem by the Border Police, IDF soldiers and contracted security guards.

The checkpoints are under the responsibility of the Border Police, but soldiers serving with military police border crossing battalions, including the soldier who was killed, are also deployed there. According to a senior police source, the checkpoints are staffed by a "major mix of forces, each with its own rules."

Police sources expressed concern that Saturday's shooting could lead to a series of similar copycat attacks in the Jerusalem area, particularly in the Old City and elsewhere in East Jerusalem. Several hours before the shooting attack, there were confrontations between the police and Palestinians near the Damascus Gate of the Old City after Palestinians began throwing stones at police securing a Muslim procession marking the birthday of the Prophet Mohammed.

Senior police sources said there have been dozens of warnings of attacks amid what they described as an increase in incitement on social media in connection with visits by Jews to the Jerusalem's Temple Mount. During the upcoming Sukkot and Simchat Torah holiday period, major crowds are also expected at the adjacent Western Wall.

Hamas, the militant group that rules the Gaza Strip, praised Saturday's shooting. "We welcome the acts of resistance in the West Bank, and firstly the brave act at the Shoafat checkpoint. The crimes of the occupation against the Palestinian people and the Al-Aqsa Mosque will not go unanswered."

Shortly after the shooting, police received reports from Jerusalem's A-Tur neighborhood of an attempted car-ramming attack against police stationed there; no police casualties were reported.

Israel decided on Friday to close off the West Bank and Gaza for two of the seven days of the Sukkot holiday, as it does most years for the fall holidays. The Israel Defense Forces released a statement saying that a closure will be imposed on Palestinians in those territories starting from the holiday's start on Sunday at 4:00 P.M. and ending the next day at 11:59 P.M.

On Simchat Torah, the military will reimpose the closure on the West Bank and Gaza, starting on October 16 at 4:00 P.M. and ending the following day at 11:59 P.M.
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Two Israeli Officers Injured In Jerusalem Shooting

See videos at IMEMC News Source Link

by IMEMC News
Oct 9, 2022

On Saturday night, Israeli sources confirmed that two Israeli officers were seriously injured in a shooting attack near Shu’fat, north of occupied Jerusalem in the West Bank. The Israeli army initiated a massive research campaign in the area, invaded homes, and abducted several Palestinians,

The sources said a Palestinian gunman arrived on foot before opening fire at the roadblock, critically wounding an 18-year-old female border police officer and seriously injuring a 25-year-old guard.

Both were rushed to Hadassah Israeli Medical Center in Jerusalem; another Israeli was reportedly mildly injured and was treated at the scene.

Preliminary investigation by the army revealed that the Palestinian arrived at the roadblock on foot before opening fire and ran towards a waiting car before it sped to Shu’fat refugee camp.

After the shooting, dozens of soldiers invaded the Shu’fat refugee camp, leading to protests, before the army broke into and ransacked Palestinian homes and abducted many Palestinians.

Furthermore, the Israeli army radio said one Palestinian turned himself in to the police after the army was looking for him, but he has no connection to the shooting.

Israeli Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai said one of the abducted Palestinians is “suspected of involvement in the shooting” and added that the police and the army are looking for three other Palestinians, whose identities were known to police.

Hamas and the Islamic Jihad Movements issued statements praising the shooting and calling for ongoing resistance against the Israeli occupation in the West Bank, including Jerusalem.

On Saturday dawn, many armored Israeli military vehicles invaded the Jenin city and Jenin refugee camp in the northern part of the occupied West Bank, killing two Palestinians, Mahmoud Moayyad Sous, 18, and Ahmad Mohammad Hussein Daraghma, 24, and injuring at least eleven, three seriously.
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Injured In Shooting Near Jerusalem, Israeli Soldier Succumbs To Her Wounds

by IMEMC News
Oct 10, 2022
On Sunday morning, the Israeli army announced the death of an Israeli soldier who was shot by a Palestinian at a military roadblock near Shu’fat, in occupied Jerusalem, on Saturday evening.

The army said the soldier Sgt. Noa Lazar, 18, from Bat Hefer town in the northern part of the country, was a member of the Israeli army’s Military Police Erez Battalion.

Noa and an armed civilian guard were injured and were rushed to a hospital in Jerusalem for medical treatment before Noa underwent brain surgery but succumbed to her serious wounds.

On Sunday, Israeli sources said the wounded guard also underwent surgery by neurosurgeons overnight, adding that he is still in critical condition, hooked to a ventilator.

The sources added that the Palestinian apparently arrived at the roadblock on foot before he fired several live rounds approximately at 9 p.m. and reportedly ran towards the refugee camp.

A video surveillance footage shows the Palestinian getting out of a car and casually walking towards the roadblock before opening fire from a handgun wounding the two and running away toward the refugee camp before the army initiated a large search campaign.

Jerusalem District Police Commander Doron Turgeman said the identities of the shooter and two other Palestinians involved in the incident are known to police.

Israeli Public Security Minister Omer Barlev arrived at the shooting scene and vowed to capture the shooter “alive or dead,” adding that the shooter was 22, from Shu’fat.

The Israeli army also said the soldiers abducted three Palestinians, in their twenties, from Shu’fat and Beit Hanina, allegedly for being “accomplices in the shooting.”

According to the Israeli army radio, the soldiers arrested three members of the Palestinian believed to be the shooting, adding that the man, believed to be the driver of the car, turned himself in to the police, but said the driver is not believed to be involved of the shooting or had any prior knowledge of it.