BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — A Palestinian was shot dead after driving a truck into a group of uniformed Israeli soldiers, killing four soldiers and injuring at least 13 other people Saturday afternoon, at a bus stop in the illegal Israeli settlement of East Talpiyyot in the Jerusalem district of the occupied West Bank.
An Israeli police spokesperson confirmed in a statement that the “terrorist” was shot and killed after carrying what she called a deliberate attack.
Sources identified the slain driver as 28-year-old Fadi Ahmad Hamdan al-Qunbar from the Palestinian neighborhood of Jabal al-Mukabbir, located just east of East Talpiyyot.
Israel’s emergency medical service Magen David Adom (MDA) said that the slain Israeli soldiers were in their 20s. According to Israeli media, three were women and the fourth was a man.
MDA added that 13 others were wounded — three severely, one moderately-to-severely, and nine lightly. They were all evacuated to Israel’s Shaare Zedek hospital in Jerusalem. It remained unconfirmed if any civilians were among the injured.
Israeli police said a truck with Israeli license plates veered from its course and rammed into people getting off of a bus — later revealed to be a group uniformed Israeli soldiers — at a promenade in the settlement, which overlooks the Old City of occupied East Jerusalem.
A number of people were initially trapped under the truck, and three of the wounded had to be extracted from under the track using a crane.
Israeli police reported imposing heightened security measures in the Jerusalem area, and that investigations were ongoing. Israeli police chief Roni Alsheich told reporters that there was no advance warning for the attack.
The illegal East Talpiyyot settlement is also known as Armon Hanatziv, and is located just west of the Palestinian neighborhood of Jabal al-Mukabbir.
UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov quickly reacted to the “terror attack,” in a Tweet, saying: “My thoughts go out to victims of shocking #terror attack in #Jerusalem. Must be condemned by all. Absolutely no excuses, no justifications!”
Since a wave of unrest began in October last year — largely marked by small-scale attacks by Palestinians targeting uniformed Israeli soldiers and police with knives or similar weapons — a number of deliberate car ramming attacks have occurred.
However, Israeli authorities’ version of events have been challenged in a number of incidents, with officials in some cases later admitting so-called “terror attacks” were actually traffic accidents.
However, Israeli news site Ynet quoted a witness as saying that after the truck rammed into the group of soldiers, Israeli forces fired at the driver who then reversed the truck and ran over the soldiers again. A video later released on Israeli media purported to show the moment the truck rammed into the soldiers.
Ma’an News – Un Palestinien a été abattu par les forces israéliennes d’occupation après avoir conduit un camion dans un groupe de soldats israéliens, tuant quatre soldats et blessant au moins 13 autres personnes ce samedi après-midi à un arrêt d’autobus dans la colonie israélienne et illégale de Talpiyyot-Est.
Un porte-parole de la police israélienne a confirmé dans une déclaration que le « terroriste » a été abattu après avoir exécuté ce qu’elle a qualifié d’attaque délibérée.
Des sources ont identifié le conducteur assassiné comme étant Fadi Ahmad Hamdan al-Qunbar, âgé de 28 ans du quartier voisin de Jérusalem-Est de Jabal al-Mukabbir.
Le service médical d’urgence d’Israël (MDA), a déclaré que les soldats israéliens tués étaient dans la vingtaine. Selon les médias israéliens, trois étaient des femmes et le quatrième était un homme.
Le MDA a ajouté que 13 autres ont été blessés, dont trois sont dans un état critique. Ils ont tous été évacués vers l’hôpital israélien de Shaare Zedek à Jérusalem. On ne sait pas s’il se trouvait des civils parmi les blessés.
La police israélienne a déclaré qu’un camion avec des plaques d’immatriculation israéliennes est sorti de sa voie et a renversé les gens qui descendaient d’un bus – plus tard révélé être un groupe de soldats israéliens en uniforme – à proximité d’une colonie qui surplombe la vieille ville de Jérusalem-Est. Un certain nombre de personnes sont restées bloquées sous le camion et trois des blessés ont dû en être extraits par l’utilisation d’une grue.
