Palestinian gunman kills 3 Israeli security officers outside settlement near Jerusalem

Early Tuesday, a Palestinian man opened fire at a checkpoint to enter the upscale Israeli settlement Har Adar, between Jerusalem and the West Bank, killing an Israeli police officer and two private security guards, and wounding a fourth man. The attacker, identified as Nimr Mahmoud Ahmed Jamal, 37, was shot dead. He had hidden among the 150 or so Palestinian workers lined up to enter the settlement, and fired when police grew suspicious and asked him to stop, police spokeswoman Luba Samri said. The attack, during Jewish high holidays, could set back U.S. mediation efforts. President Trump's envoy, Jason Greenblatt, had just arrived in the region.

Gaza's Hamas-led government praised the attack but did not claim responsibility for it, and Israel's Shin Bet security service said the troubled gunman appeared to have acted alone. Israeli Intelligence Minister Israel Katz said the attack was "a message to special U.S. envoy Greenblatt" that "Israel's security was and yet remains the supreme consideration in the government's policy, and is above any other consideration of improving and easing the lives of the Palestinians." Palestinian attacks have eased recently, but since September 2015, Palestinians have killed 51 Israelis, two American visitors, and a British tourist; in that time, Israeli forces have killed more than 255 Palestinians.

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