Girl, 3, shot dead by mistake as Israeli police open fire on suspects who rammed checkpoint near Jerusalem

A PALESTINIAN child has died after Israeli police opened fire at two suspects who rammed a van into a checkpoint near Jerusalem.

The police started firing when the van swerved into officers, but fatally shot the three-year-old girl in a nearby car by mistake.

AFP

An ambulance is deployed at the scene of a car-ramming attack at the Ras Bidu checkpoint near Jerusalem[/caption]

Reuters

Israeli security forces secure the area where Israeli police killed a young Palestinian girl[/caption]

AFP

An Israeli border guard stands at the scene of the attack[/caption]

The police said on Sunday: “As a result of shooting at the terrorists, a girl who was in another vehicle at the checkpoint was hurt.”

Israel’s emergency medical agency Magen David Adom confirmed a three-year-old girl “was pronounced deceased” after an examination.

Heartstopping footage from security cameras showed the moment a van passed through a checkpoint near the Palestinian village of Biddu before a second van failed to stop and veered into police officers.

Israeli police then appeared to open fire at both of the vans, in a retaliation that they later declared “neutralised” the “terrorists”.

The young girl mistakenly killed was in the first van, according to police, while a man and a woman in the second van were also shot.

A female police officer aged in her 20s was reportedly lightly wounded and taken to a medical centre in nearby Jerusalem.

Palestinian sources reportedly told Palestine news agency Wafa that the man and woman – a couple – were both killed in the shooting.

A preliminary police investigation found that “during the rapid response of the officers toward the terrorists’ vehicle, the vehicle with the child may have been affected”.

Israeli police promised to conduct a “thorough investigation”.

It comes amid continuing clashes in the West Bank which have raged since the Hamas-Israel war erupted three months ago.

Earlier today, a man driving a car with Israeli licence plates was fatally shot at a busy intersection only hours after a separate confrontation left seven Palestinians and a border policewoman dead.

The victim in the drive-by shooting was reportedly later identified as a Palestinian resident of Jerusalem, as speculation grew that the assailant, who fled the scene, may have mistaken him for an Israeli.

Hours earlier, a roadside bomb was said by police to have exploded near a paramilitary border police vehicle, killing an officer and wounding three others.

An Israeli military helicopter began targeting Palestinians in the area who were throwing explosives at Israeli vehicles.

The airstrike killed seven Palestinians, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

AFP

The three-year-old girl was critically injured in the shooting and declared dead at the scene a short time later, according to medics[/caption]

AP

Israeli security forces are seen at the West Bank checkpoint[/caption]

AFP

An Israeli border guard stands by an armoured vehicle[/caption]