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Driver rams into pedestrians in east Jerusalem Driver rams into train platform in east Jerusalem
(35 minutes later)
A motorist drove into a group of pedestrians on a crowded Jerusalem street then got out of his vehicle to attack people with a metal bar, in what Israeli police said was a deliberate Palestinian attack. A Palestinian man rammed his car into a crowded train platform in east Jerusalem on Wednesday and then attacked people with an iron bar, killing one person and injuring 13 before being shot dead by police.
An ambulance service spokesman said eight people were injured by the driver, two of them critically. Police shot dead the suspect. It was the second such attack in the past two weeks, and deepened already heightened tensions in the city. Earlier on Wednesday, Israeli police had dispersed dozens of Palestinians who threw rocks and firecrackers near a contested holy site in Jerusalem’s Old City.
It was the second such incident in two weeks in the holy city, the scene of daily Palestinian protests amid tensions over a sacred compound revered by both Muslims and Jews. Police said the motorist slammed his car into the train platform first, backed out and proceeded to drive away, hitting several cars along the way. He then got out of the car and attacked a group of civilians and police officers on the side of the road with a metal bar before he was shot and killed.
Police said the driver ran down pedestrians on a main road that straddles predominantly Arab East Jerusalem and an adjacent ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighbourhood. The vehicle then continued for another 500 metres before stopping at a junction, where the driver emerged and began striking at people with a metal pipe. Israeli police said one person was killed and about a dozen people were injured in the incident, which they described as a terror attack.
“I can confirm that this is a terrorist attack,” said Micky Rosenfeld, foreign press spokesman for the Israeli police. Police said the 38-year-old Palestinian, identified as Ibrahim al-Akri, had recently been released from prison after serving time for security offences.
On 22 October, a Palestinian motorist drove through a nearby train station, killing two people before he was shot dead by Israeli police. There was no immediate claim of responsibility by any Palestinian organisation but the Islamic militant group Hamas welcomed the attack.
Police said the driver in Wednesday’s incident was apparently a Palestinian from East Jerusalem. “We praise this heroic operation,” said Hamas official Fawzi Barhoum. “We call for more such … operations.”
Israel’s minister of public security, Yitzhak Ahronovich, said civilians and police officers were among the wounded.
The attack was almost identical to one two weeks ago that killed two people, a baby girl and a young woman from Ecuador, at a train platform near the scene of Wednesday’s attack.
Palestinian protesters and Israeli police have been clashing almost daily in east Jerusalem in recent months. Israel captured east Jerusalem, with its sites sacred to Jews, Muslims and Christians, from Jordan in the 1967 war. Palestinians demand the territory for their future capital. The fate of the area is an emotional issue for Jews and Muslims and its future lies at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Wednesday’s car attack came shortly after clashes in the Old City, where Palestinians threw rocks and firecrackers at police to protest against a planned visit to a key holy site by Israeli supporters of a right-wing activist who was shot by a Palestinian gunman last week.
The Israelis had planned on commemorating a week since a Palestinian shot and wounded American-Israeli activist Yehuda Glick, who has campaigned for more Jewish access to the location, which is revered by Jews as the Temple Mount and by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary. Palestinians view such visits as a provocation and often respond violently.
Several police officers were hurt in the clashes, said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld, adding that the police used stun grenades to disperse the Palestinians. Quiet was soon restored, he said.
East Jerusalem has experienced unrest since the summer, with Palestinian youths throwing stones and firebombs at motorists and clashing frequently with Israeli police.