Friday’s apparent rampage marks the latest escalation in a period of rising tensions in east Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.
THIS IS A NEW UPDATED NEWSLETTER. The AP’s previous story follows.
JERUSALEM — A suspected attacker rammed his vehicle into several pedestrians in east Jerusalem on Friday, injuring at least six people, Israeli medical officials said, the latest incident. as violence increased in the disputed capital.
The crash is believed to have occurred at a bus stop in Ramot, a Jewish settlement east of Jerusalem. Tensions have been growing in the eastern half of the city, which is annexed by Israel, following a Palestinian gun attack on January 27 that left seven people dead. It was the deadliest attack in Jerusalem in more than a decade.
Israel’s rescue service said its medical staff were treating six people, including two children in critical condition, with CPR. It said two men, aged 27 and 30, were unconscious and in serious condition, while two others were in moderate condition, including a 40-year-old man. Police said the attacker was shot at the scene. There was no immediate word on his condition.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas militant groups, rulers of the Gaza Strip, praised the suspected attack but did not immediately claim responsibility.
Police determined the ages of the injured children to be 5 and 6. Footage from the scene showed police and paramedics surrounding a battered blue Mazda that had crashed into a bus stop. Bloodied bodies were scattered along the way.
Israel claims all of Jerusalem as its indivisible capital, while the Palestinians want east Jerusalem, captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war, as the capital of their future state.
Hostilities have escalated in east Jerusalem and the West Bank since Israel stepped up attacks on the occupied territory last spring, following a series of deadly Palestinian attacks inside Israel. .
Nearly 150 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem by 2022, making it the bloodiest year in those territories since 2004, according to leading Israeli human rights group B’Tselem. Last year, 30 people were killed in Palestinian attacks against Israelis.
So far this year, 43 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Associated Press.
