Nine-year-old Israeli girl shot in West Bank settlement.

Nine-year-old Israeli girl shot in West Bank settlement.(TOI).

A nine-year-old Israeli girl was shot and seriously injured Saturday night in a suspected terrorist attack at the West Bank settlement of Psagot, outside Ramallah. The girl, who was playing in the yard outside her home, was hit in the upper torso.

Initially, it was suspected the shots were fired from the neighboring Palestinian town of al-Bira. But authorities were also investigating the possibility that a gunman may have infiltrated the settlement, north of Jerusalem, and that he could still be on the loose there. Psagot residents were told to stay in their homes; those with firearms were instructed to keep them by their side.

Sirens sounded in the settlement shortly after the gunfire was reported, and security forces converged on the area. Magen David Adom paramedics performed first aid on the victim and rushed her to Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem. She was in serious but stable condition after admittance to the hospital’s trauma ward.

MDA medic Shlomo Petrover, the girl’s neighbor, told Ynet that the injured girl said she saw the shooter, who wore a stocking cap.

Police, Border Police and IDF forces flooded the settlement of 2,000 residents, and were investigating the incident. Police Spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld tweeted that authorities suspected the incident was a terrorist attack.