Jerusalem: An eight-year-old boy also died following being injured in an attack that rammed a car into a bus stop in East Jerusalem occupied by Israel. With this, the number of people killed in the incident has increased to three. The attack took place on Friday in the Jewish settlement of Ramoth in East Jerusalem.
Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Hospital said in a statement that eight-year-old Asher Menahem Paley died following being seriously injured. In the accident, Paley’s younger brother Yaakov Israel Paley (6) and Alter Shlomo Lederman (20) were killed on the day of the incident. Four other injured people are undergoing treatment at the hospital.
The car attack came following Israeli occupation forces shot and killed a Palestinian near the city of Hebron on Thursday. With this, the number of Palestinians killed by Israel in 40 days this year has reached 43. The army shot and killed Palestinians including children and the elderly by entering the refugee camps.
The attack took place in Ramoth around 1.30 pm on Friday. A 31-year-old Palestinian resident of Issawiya in East Jerusalem drove his car at high speed and ran over people waiting for the bus. “It was a shocking scene. While my wife and children were sitting in the car, I saw a car speeding towards the bus stop and knocking down the people waiting there,” said paramedic employee Lishai Shemesh, who witnessed the incident.
After the attack, the car driver was shot dead by the policeman present at the scene. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the incident a terrorist attack and ordered the demolition of the suspect’s house. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken condemned the attack, calling it “an unconscionable crime to target innocent civilians,” Blinken said in a statement.
In 1974, Israel built the Ramot Jewish settlement by occupying the Palestinian villages of Bait Iqsa and Bait Hanina.