Thousands of mourners marching at the funeral of a Palestinian Authority police officer who wounded three IDF soldiers during a shooting attack on Sunday chanted “death to Israel” and called for killing hundreds of Israelis, the Times of Israel reported on Monday.

“It is time for the machine gun, to shoot 500 people,” a man leading Amjad Sukkari’s funeral procession shouted into a megaphone. “Muhammad’s army will return,” he declared. His words were loudly repeated by the mourners.

Many in the crowd, which gathered to celebrate Sukkari in the West Bank city of Nablus, chanted for more terrorist attacks against Jews and Israelis.

Nablus governor Akram Rajoub and several other senior officials from Fatah, the party led by PA President Mahmoud Abbas, were among the mourners.

“It doesn’t mean I agree with what he has done,” Rajoub said. “I’m against policemen carrying out attacks, but we are people who respect their martyrs and dead.”

Sukkari, 34, worked as a bodyguard and driver for the Palestinian attorney general. He carried out his attack at a West Bank checkpoint near Beit El, shooting three soldiers with a handgun before being fatally hit by return fire. One of his victims sustained a gunshot to his upper body and is in serious condition. The second victim is in moderate condition, and the third was slightly injured from a bullet wound to the hand.

Following news of the attack, the PA’s police force released a statement eulogizing Sukkari’s “brave martyrdom.”

Hamas also praised Sunday’s shooting, as did the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which called on “all strugglers in Palestine to escalate the flame of the intifada.”

According to Israel’s Channel 2, the hashtag “operation V.I.P.” went viral on Palestinian social media following news of the shooting, with various photos and memes circulating on Facebook and Twitter.

Al-Quds, the largest Palestinian newspaper, featured a drawing of the “martyr” Sukkari as its daily comic on Sunday.

[Photo: Flash90 ]