Israel: Five injured by car in Jerusalem, Netanyahu condemns ‘attack’

A new rise in tension in Jerusalem. At least five people were injured Monday afternoon in central Jerusalem when they were rammed by a “ram” in what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a “terrorist attack.”

Magen David Adom, the Israeli counterpart to the Red Cross, said in a statement that several pedestrians were hit by a car. According to the source, a 70-year-old man was seriously injured, a 30-year-old and three men aged 25 to 50 are in a less serious condition. Without qualifying the incident as an attack, the police cautiously indicated that the “suspect”, as yet unidentified, was “neutralized” on the spot and that “a large number of police officers” were called in to reinforce. Sources in the Ministry of Defense believe that this is indeed a terrorist attack, according to Haaretz, an Israeli reference newspaper. The attacker, a resident of the Palestinian region of Beit Safafa, is known to the police, according to a local newspaper. “The footage of the incident confirms claims that it was a terrorist attack,” a police source also told Haaretz.

“A few minutes ago, another assassination attempt was made on Israeli citizens not far from here. This terrorist attack in this place at this moment reminds us that the land and the State of Israel are acquired only at the cost of many hardships,” Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement, as Israel prepares to celebrate its 75th anniversary from Tuesday evening. anniversary of its creation.

Since January, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has seen a wave of increased violence. Earlier on Monday, a Palestinian was killed by Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian health ministry, in a military “counter-terrorism” operation by the Israeli army.

Since the beginning of the year, the conflict has claimed the lives of at least 97 Palestinians, 19 Israelis, a Ukrainian and an Italian, according to AFP figures compiled from official Israeli and Palestinian sources. These figures include, on the Palestinian side, combatants and civilians, including minors, and on the Israeli side, the majority of civilians, including minors, and three members of the Arab minority.