Israeli soldiers pictured in Hebron's Old City.(MaanImages/Eleonora Vio)

July 30, 2012

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli soldiers killed a Palestinian worker and injured two others, one of them seriously, after opening fire at a van as it approached a checkpoint near Jerusalem early Monday, medics said.

Hasan Badee Omar, 46, was hit several times in the chest and abdomen and evacuated to hospital, where he died from his injuries, Palestinian medics told Ma'an.

Ashraf Abdullah was hit in his shoulder and thigh while Khalid Imad Abdullah was shot in his right leg.

"We were 13 workers in a Ford Transit traveling to our working place in Jerusalem. Before we arrived at Zayem checkpoint, the driver received a message from another driver who approached the checkpoint before him telling that strict procedures were being applied and he should go back," one of the survivors Khalid Abdullah told Ma'an.

"As the driver started to turn, border guard officers opened fire at the car without asking the driver to stop," he added.

Local Palestinian residents living near the checkpoint telephoned ambulances to evacuate the victims.

A spokesman for Israel's border police, which is stationed at checkpoints in the area, could not be reached for immediate comment.

Israel captured the West Bank and East Jerusalem, land the Palestinians want for a future state, during a 1967 Middle East War in a move that has not won international recognition.

Reuters contributed to this report

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