A Palestinian man drove his car into a crowd on a Jerusalem street, injuring five people before being shot dead by a passer-by, Israeli police said. Hours earlier, Israeli forces killed a Palestinian man during a raid on the Aqabat Jabr refugee camp near the West Bank city of Jericho, the latest in a long series of incidents during an upsurge in violence over the past year.
“During the activity, two suspects were spotted fleeing the scene. The soldiers responded with live fire. Hits were identified,” the army said. It did not elaborate on why the two Palestinians were targeted. The official Palestinian news agency WAFA quoted the governor of Jericho as saying that a man was fatally shot and three others wounded by the troops.
Israel’s ambulance service said it treated five people who were injured before transferring them to a hospital, including a 70-year-old man who was in a serious but stable condition. Videos obtained by Reuters showed a man lying stretched out on the hood of a car that was stopped in the middle of the road as shots rang out.
Speaking at the start of ceremonies commemorating Israel’s military dead, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the driver of the car, a 30-year-old from East Jerusalem, had tried to hurt civilians deliberately. “This terrorist attack reminds us that the land of Israel is acquired through many trials and tribulations,” he said.
Israeli-Palestinian violence has surged this year, with frequent military raids and violence by Israeli settlers amid a spate of Palestinian attacks. More than 90 Palestinians and at least 19 Israelis and foreigners have been killed since January.
The statement from the governor said the army had not handed over the man’s body to his family.
Separately, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Association advocacy group said Israeli security forces had carried out 30 arrests in the West Bank overnight and early on Monday.
Israel captured the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which Palestinians want as the core of a future independent state, during the 1967 Middle East war. It has since annexed East Jerusalem in a move not recognized internationally.
(With inputs from agencies )
