Gunman kills two Israelis in drive-by shooting, shot dead

A Palestinian man who was due to begin a prison term in Israel next week went on a shooting spree on Sunday, killing a pedestrian and a police officer in a drive-by shooting in Jerusalem before being shot dead by police, medical and law enforcement officials said.

The attack happened on Sunday at the Ammunition Hill light rail stop, an area that has been the site of a number of attacks over the last two years. It is close to the line dividing mainly Palestinian east Jerusalem from the mostly Jewish western side of the city.

The incident, near Israel's national police headquarters, began when shots were fired from a vehicle at people waiting at a tram stop, a police spokeswoman said.

The assailant, a 39-year-old resident of Silwan, a Palestinian neighbourhood of east Jerusalem and a member of Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, then drove off and was shot dead in an exchange of fire with police, she said.

Medical officials said six people were wounded in the attack, and that two of them, a 60-year-old woman and a police officer, died in hospital.

The incident began when a gunman in a car opened fire on the tram stop where one woman was shot. According to police, the gunman then continued into a Palestinian neighbourhood of east Jerusalem where he fired on pursuing police before being shot himself.

“When the terrorist spotted the police he fired at them, and they managed to shoot and kill him,” a police spokeswoman said. One of the police officers was shot by the gunman during the exchange and died.

Images from the scene showed a bus stop damaged by gunfire and a grey car stopped in the middle of the road with the driver’s side window shattered.

The gunman was later identified as Misbah Abu Sbeih who had been due to start a four month prison sentence for assaulting an Israeli police officer in 2013.

In the past year, Palestinians, many acting alone and often with rudimentary weapons, have killed at least 35 Israelis and two visiting Americans in attacks.

During that period, at least 220 Palestinians have died in violent incidents in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. Of those, 149 were identified by authorities as assailants while others were killed during clashes and protests.

Israel says anti-Israeli incitement by Palestinian officials and on social media networks is stoking attacks.

Palestinian leaders say assailants are acting out of desperation over the collapse in 2014 of peace talks and the expansion of Israeli settlements on occupied land that Palestinians seek for an independent state.