Two men hurt in terror shooting in East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah
Victims reportedly targeted while heading to prayers; both taken to hospital in moderate condition; police searching for gunman, who flees scene
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
Two Israeli men were shot and wounded in a terror attack in East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood on Tuesday morning, police and medics said.
The Magen David Adom ambulance service said its medics treated the two victims, aged 50 and 48, at the scene in moderate condition and took them to hospitals in the capital.
The Shaare Zedek and Hadassah Hospital Mount Scopus medical centers said the pair were listed in stable condition.
Police said officers were at the scene, on Pierre Van Paassen Street, investigating the shooting and searching for the terrorist, who fled.
The weapon apparently used in the attack, a makeshift “Carlo” submachine gun, was found by officers nearby, police said.
According to police and medics, the victims were in a car when they came under fire.
רץ למכונית, יורה מטווח אפס ובורח: תיעוד הפיגוע בירושלים@HGoldich
(צילום: חיים גולדברג, כיכר השבת) pic.twitter.com/L71fppNmR8— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) April 18, 2023
Surveillance camera footage of the attack showed the gunman approaching the victims’ car and opening fire from close range, before fleeing.
“They continued driving and stopped near a police car and reported the incident to them,” said MDA medic Nir Buzaglo.
“We arrived at the scene quickly… one of the victims was lying on the road and the other was walking nearby, they were fully conscious and suffered from gunshot wounds to their upper bodies,” he added.
According to Hebrew-language media reports, the victims were heading to morning prayers at the Tomb of Simeon the Just, in Sheikh Jarrah.
The neighborhood, parts of which were historically known as Shimon Hatzadik, has become one of Jerusalem’s tensest in recent years. Jewish nationalists have sought to evict Palestinian residents in decades-long legal battles that helped touch off an 11-day war between Israel and the Hamas terror group in the Gaza Strip in 2021.
“Large police forces of the Jerusalem District continue to carry out extensive searches in the area and in more distant areas,” police said in a statement several hours after the attack, adding that officers, special forces, a canine unit, and a police helicopter were participating in the manhunt for the terrorist.
Tensions between Israel and the Palestinians have been high for the past year, with the Israeli military conducting near-nightly raids in the West Bank amid a series of deadly Palestinian terror attacks.
At least 92 Palestinians have been killed since the beginning of the year, most of them while carrying out attacks or during clashes with security forces, but some were uninvolved civilians and others were killed under circumstances that are being investigated.
Palestinian attacks in Israel and the West Bank have left 19 people dead since the beginning of the year and several more seriously hurt.
The attack in Jerusalem came hours after a Palestinian woman stabbed and moderately hurt an Israeli man in the West Bank on Monday evening.