Updated | Three Israelis killed by Palestinian gunman in settlement near Jerusalem

Three Israelis have been killed in a gun attack by a Palestinian assailant, at a settlemant outside Jerusalem, called the Har Adar settlement.

According to police, the attacker came to the back gate of the Har Adar settlement at 7am, as security guards were opening to admit Palestinian labourers with permits. 

When the guards became suspicious, the individual brought out a pistol, which was hidden under his shirt, and opened fire, fatally wounding three Israelis - two civilian security guards and a policeman - before he was shot and killed.

“A terrorist who arrived at the rear gate of Har Adar, along with Palestinian labourers entering the settlement… pulled out a weapon and opened fire at the force at the site”, said an Israeli police spokesman.

The victims were named as 20-year-old police segeant Solomon Gavriya and security guards Youssef Ottman and Or Arish, both 25.

Authorities identified the assailant as 37-year-old Nimr Mahmoud Ahmen Jamal, from the nearby village of Beit Surik. Israeli security services claimed that he had "significant personal and family problems, including those regarding family violence" and that his wife had fled to Jordan just a few weeks prior. 

The attacker held a work permit for settlements.

Moshir Abu Katish, a paramedic volunteer said: "I ran to treat the injured people who were suffering from gunshot wounds to their upper bodies. Unfortunately, the three more seriously injured people in the attack were pronounced dead at the scene. A fourth person who was injured, we treated at the scene before he was transported to the hospital for further treatment and observation", he said.

The shooting is the most serious and fatal attack since July, when a young Palestinian man stabbed three Israelis to death in a settlement, amid major clashes over the al-Asqa mosque in Jerusalem. Since, tensions have decreased and there has been relatively little violence.