At Least 2 Lifeless as Driver Rams Bus Cease in East Jerusalem

A person on Friday drove a automotive into a gaggle of individuals at a bus cease exterior an Israeli settlement on the northern fringe of East Jerusalem, killing two individuals together with a 6-year-old baby, and wounding at the least 5 others in what the police mentioned was a terrorist assault.

The police mentioned a detective shot and killed the driving force, who the Israeli information media reported was a Palestinian from one other a part of East Jerusalem.

The occasions had been the newest in a surge of violence that has set off comparisons with facets of a Palestinian insurgency 20 years in the past, often called the second Palestinian intifada, through which roughly 1,000 Israelis and three,000 Palestinians had been killed.

The automotive ramming got here two weeks after a Palestinian gunman killed seven civilians at an Israeli settlement elsewhere in East Jerusalem, and amid the deadliest interval in years for Palestinians dwelling within the Israeli-occupied West Financial institution.

Greater than 40 Palestinians have been shot useless by Israeli forces because the begin of the yr, most of them in gunfights that broke out throughout Israeli operations to arrest Palestinian gunmen based mostly in Palestinian areas of the West Financial institution.

The escalation has prompted fears of even better violence, as a result of it follows the formation of latest and more and more lively Palestinian armed teams and the election of a brand new Israeli authorities — probably the most right-wing in Israeli historical past — that has asserted unique rights over land that Palestinians hoped would type the spine of a future Palestinian state.

The assault on Friday occurred shortly earlier than 1:30 p.m. on a freeway main north from Jerusalem and thru the occupied West Financial institution, exterior a settlement primarily populated by extremely spiritual Jews.

Video and pictures circulated on social media after the assault confirmed that the automotive — a blue sedan — collided with a lamppost subsequent to a bus cease, hitting a number of individuals and propelling them onto a patch of land a number of yards to the north. A number of gave the impression to be mendacity immobile on the bottom, whereas others had been sitting upright.

The police didn’t initially affirm the identities or nationalities of both the victims or the assailant, however mentioned the attacker was in his 30s and from an Arab neighborhood of East Jerusalem.

“It was a stunning scene,” mentioned Lishai Shemesh, a paramedic who witnessed the assault, in response to a press release distributed by his emergency medical group, Magen David Adom.

“I used to be within the automotive with my spouse and kids and observed a automotive driving quick into the bus cease and crushing the individuals who had been ready there,” Mr. Shemesh mentioned. “We noticed a number of victims together with 6- to 8-year-old youngsters who had been mendacity unconscious,” he added.

The Israeli authorities, together with the police, described the occasions as a terrorist assault. The workplace of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mentioned that the driving force’s dwelling, in one other a part of East Jerusalem, could be sealed and demolished.

Authorities officers say the demolition of attackers’ properties — a typical Israeli follow — is important to discourage future assaults, and have promised to scale up demolitions of unlawful Palestinian development on the whole.

Critics and Palestinians say it’s counterproductive and exacerbates resentment amongst Palestinians in East Jerusalem, who complain of systematic discrimination together with restrictions on entry to residential housing.

East Jerusalem was captured by Israel from Jordan throughout the Arab-Israeli conflict of 1967 and later annexed and settled by greater than 200,000 Israelis. Israel considers East Jerusalem an indivisible a part of its capital, however Palestinians hope it is going to change into the capital of a future Palestinian state, and a lot of the world considers it occupied territory.

Hamas, the Islamist group that controls the Gaza Strip, praised however didn’t declare accountability for the assault.

After arriving on the scene, the Israeli nationwide safety minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, mentioned he needed the federal government to lock down the attacker’s neighborhood in East Jerusalem and to create new laws that may permit courts to present dying sentences to attackers.

Hiba Yazbek and Iyad Abu Hweila contributed reporting.