Twelve Israeli soldiers injured in Palestinian car-ramming terror attack
Increase in violence comes just days after US President Donald Trump unveiled his long awaited Middle East plan
Twelve Israeli soldiers were injured when a Palestinian motorist slammed his car into them in Jerusalem.
Israeli military spokesman Jonathan Conricus said one of the 12 injured in Jerusalem was seriously hurt.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the incident is being treated as a “terror attack”, and officers are searching for the assailant – who had fled the scene.
That came at the same time as a 19-year-old Palestinian was killed in the West Bank in clashes with Israeli troops.
The uptick in violence comes just days after US President Donald Trump unveiled his long awaited Middle East plan, which greatly favours Israel and has been rejected by the Palestinians.
The plan has sparked calls by Israeli nationalists for Israel to annex parts of the West Bank – land Palestinians want for their hoped-for state – and has set off tensions in the region.
Security measures in #Jerusalem continuing after vehicle terror attack overnight. Vehicle found by units. Search continues for terrorist. pic.twitter.com/bxruE0Bgw4
— Micky Rosenfeld (@MickyRosenfeld) February 6, 2020
Palestinian hospital officials said the 19-year-old was killed in clashes in the West Bank city of Jenin. Six others were injured in the confrontation.
That death came just hours after Israeli forces shot and killed a 17-year-old Palestinian during clashes with demonstrators elsewhere in the West Bank on Wednesday.
Stopping short of directly linking the spate of violence to Mr Trump’s plan, Mr Conricus said: “Attacks from Gaza, an attack in Jerusalem, signs of a rise in hostile activity in Jenin. Yesterday friction in Hebron. We are not trying to escalate the situation while understanding the complexity and sensitivity of the situation.”
In the Jerusalem incident, the troops were out on a “educational heritage tour”, walking near a popular entertainment district in Jerusalem when the motorist rammed his car into them and fled.
Such acts of violence were common in Jerusalem during a low-level wave of near-daily attacks last decade, but they tapered off and car rammings have become infrequent in recent years.
In the West Bank, Mr Conricus said troops were carrying out the demolition of a home belonging to a terrorist allegedly involved in a deadly attack. He said there was a “sizable riot” at the scene by Palestinians who threw Molotov cocktails at troops, who then came under sniper fire.
Mr Conricus said forces responded to the violence with their own sniper fire, and a Palestinian gunman was killed.
He could not confirm whether the 19-year-old was the sniper. He said there had been an “uptick in intensity” in the means used against Israeli troops in the West Bank.
Jenin governor Akram Rajoub said the 19-year-old, a student at an academy that trains budding police officers, was throwing stones at the troops.
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