An Israeli policeman was killed and 13 people wounded – two critically – after a Palestinian driver ploughed his van into pedestrians on a main street in Jerusalem in what security officials immediately described as a hit-and-run terror attack.
The attack appeared to be part of a growing pattern that was followed later on Wednesday night when – in a second reported incident – a vehicle drove into a group of Israeli soldiers on the occupied West Bank injuring three, one seriously.
In the first attack, the 38-year-old Palestinian driver was shot and killed by police after he left his vehicle and reportedly began attacking passers-by with a metal bar.
The attack, claimed as a “glorious operation” by the militant Islamist group Hamas, is the second fatal incident in the city in two weeks involving a car being driven into pedestrians and has deepened already-high tensions between Arabs and Jews, in particular over the issue of access to the holy place in Jerusalem’s Old City that is the site of the al-Aqsa mosque compound and also the historic location of the Jewish Second Temple.
Police identified the attacker as Ibrahim al-Akri, a married father of five. The dead policeman was named as Jadan Assad from the Druze town of Beit Jan in northern Israel.
Police and witnesses said Akri first drove his white van into three border policemen crossing the road that divides the Palestinian neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah from the ultra-orthodox Jewish area of Mea Shearim, and then continued several hundred metres to strike several people at a railway stop.
One of those injured, David Jadidi, described the incident in the Israeli media. “I was in my car when another vehicle suddenly slammed into me from behind. At first I thought it was an accident.”
Although early reports suggested that Akri had been a prisoner in Israeli jails for security offences, it later emerged he had never been arrested. His brother Musa was freed as part of a prisoner exchange deal and deported to Turkey.
“A border policeman, taking the initiative, drew his weapon and eliminated the terrorist,” Nir Barkat, the mayor of Jerusalem, told reporters at the scene.
A Facebook page apparently belonging to Akri included praise for the shooting last week of an Israeli activist who advocated lifting a de facto Israeli ban on Jewish prayer at a religious site in the Old City revered by Jews and Muslims. The al-Aqsa compound, or Temple Mount, has become a central point in the escalating violence in the city in recent months. The compound houses Islam’s third holiest site, but is also a sacred spot for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount because it once housed two Jewish temples.
Reports of the second suspected attack emerged late on Wednesday night when three soldiers were struck near Al-Arub refugee camp close to Bethlehem.
According to initial reports all of those injured were soldiers. Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said the driver of the “large commercial vehicle” bearing a Palestinian license plate fled the scene.
Earlier on Wednesday Israeli police had dispersed dozens of masked Palestinians who threw rocks and firecrackers near the holy site before a visit by about one hundred Jewish activists who had planned to hold a prayer vigil.
It also came as Jordan called back its ambassador to Israel for consultations in a gesture of protest over the continuing violence in east Jerusalem.
A video quickly emerged of the first attack, including graphic footage from the light rail stop where the van hit the second group of people. It showed two people who were injured by a speeding white van that continued driving out of view. A second video showed the driver on foot being pursued by a police car at a nearby junction, darting in different directions before being approached by several figures and then falling as he was shot.
In the immediate aftermath of the incident, the body of the driver was still visible lying across the tracks of the Jerusalem light railway, a thin trail of blood on the pavement.
Hamas official Fawzi Barhoum praised the “glorious operation” and called for more such attacks.
Israel and Hamas are bitter enemies, and fought a bruising 50-day war in Gaza over the summer. Israel had no immediate response to the Hamas claim of responsibility.
Yitzhak Aharonovitch, Israel’s minister of public security, said civilians and police officers were among the victims. He praised the police officer who killed Akri, saying that “a terrorist who attacks civilians deserves to be killed”.
Jerusalem’s mayor, vowed to keep up the pressure on anyone seeking to terrorise the city through attacks or rioting. Barkat was referring to persistent unrest that has gripped the city’s east for the past four months.
“This is a hard day for Jerusalem,” he said, urging the government to act with “a firm hand to win the war against terror and rioting”.
“The only answer is to get the city back to normal and continue our daily lives because that sends a message to these terrorists: we are here and we will not leave.” he said.
In the aftermath of the second attack targeting a train stop city authorities announced they would place concrete barriers at the platforms to protect against further attacks using vehicles.
Earlier in the day, Jordan had recalled its ambassador to Israel in protest at what it described as Israeli “violations” in Jerusalem and its holy sites, the first time it has done so since the countries made peace in 1994, Jordanian officials said.
Israel last week closed for a day the compound housing the al-Aqsa mosque, Islam’s third holiest site, amid increasing Israeli-Palestinian violence around it.
The move infuriated Jordanian King Abdullah, who is custodian of the sacred compound that also houses the Dome of the Rock mosque.
The decision to recall the ambassador was taken “in protest at the increasing and unprecedented Israeli escalation in the Noble Sanctuary, and the repeated Israeli violations of Jerusalem,” Jordan’s Petra news agency said.
