Israeli security force members search and patrol the area following a shooting incident in East Jerusalem, April 18, 2023. (Credit: Ilan Rosenberg/Reuters)
A suspected Palestinian gunman wounded two men near a Jewish site in annexed east Jerusalem on Tuesday, Israeli authorities said, with security forces conducting a manhunt for the perpetrator.
The shooting came days before the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, which has seen deadly attacks and clashes in Israeli-controlled territory, annexed east Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.
Israeli police announced a suspected "shooting terror attack" in the Sheikh Jarrah sector of east Jerusalem targeting two motorists, who according to medics were rushed to hospital.
"Police and Border Police officers are at the scene conducting searches for the suspect who fled the scene," the police said in a statement.
Israeli security forces closed off streets in the neighborhood, where an AFP journalist saw officers entering a Palestinian home, with a drone and helicopter as well as police dogs aiding the search.
Officers enforcing the shutdown prevented cars and people from moving in the center of the neighborhood, as heavily armed forces combed the area.
Police announced they had found the perpetrator's gun near the scene of the attack, which took place near the tomb of Simeon the Just — Shimon Hatzadik in Hebrew — a site frequented by religious Jews.
The weapon was identified as a Carlo makeshift submachine gun, which Palestinians manufacture in the West Bank.
The Hadassah hospital said they received a 48-year-old gunshot victim in moderate condition, and Shaare Zedek medical center said it was treating a man in his 50s, also moderately wounded.
Sheikh Jarrah was the focal point of protests against the eviction of Palestinian residents by Israeli settler organizations in the build-up to and during the May 2021 war between Israel and Gaza militants.
The attack took place a day after a Palestinian woman stabbed and moderately wounded an Israeli man at the Gush Etzion junction in the southern occupied West Bank.
The woman was shot by security forces and taken to hospital in moderate condition.
Armed attacks this year have claimed the lives of at least 96 Palestinians, 19 Israelis, one Ukrainian and one Italian, according to an AFP count based on Israeli and Palestinian official sources.
These figures include, on the Palestinian side, both civilians and combatants, including minors, and on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, including minors.