Probe into Jerusalem checkpoint shooting finds failures: 3 police officers fired

The Israel Defense Forces will no longer station soldiers at a checkpoint near the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Shuafat, following a deadly attack there last month.

The decision comes after the IDF and Israel Police wrap up an investigation into the deadly attack on October 8, during which Sgt. Noa Lazar was killed and another guard was critically hurt.

The probe found numerous issues with the functioning of troops at the checkpoint regularly, and their lack of response to the attack. The attacker, Udai Tamimi, managed to flee the scene by foot, unscathed.

Police will fire three officers for failing to respond to the attack, as well as remove an officer from his position for a year. Another two senior Border Police officers will be formally censured over the incident.

IDF chief Aviv Kohavi has instructed to remove Military Police forces from the checkpoint within a month, and instead, it will be run entirely by Border Police and civilian guards.

“Due to a lack of professionalism and not trying to engage, the terrorist was neither neutralized nor arrested,” Kohavi says in a statement.

Lazar’s family has been updated with the findings of the probe, the military says.