Terrorist ramming attack kills a child and a student in Jerusalem
Rescue and Police at the scene of a terror attack at the Ramot junction, in Jerusalem, Feb. 10, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
(JTA) — A Palestinian rammed his car into civilians at a Jerusalem bus stop on Friday afternoon, killing a 6-year-old boy a 20-year-old man in Jerusalem.
An off-duty policeman killed the attacker, a 31-year Palestinian from eastern Jerusalem. Reports said at least five others, including an 8-year-old child, were injured in the attack outside Ramot, an eastern Jerusalem neighborhood.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the sealing and demolition of the attacker’s home and that “arrests be carried out immediately in the terrorist’s circle,” a statement from his office said.
The attack comes just two weeks after another attack in an eastern Jerusalem neighborhood killed seven Israelis on a Friday night, and amid escalating violence in the West Bank. The day after that attack, two Israelis were shot by a 13-year-old Palestinian outside Jerusalem’s Old City.
The Friday night attack two weeks ago came one day after an Israeli raid in the northern West Bank city of Jenin killed 10 people, including two civilians.
Netanyahu’s new government, which includes far-right parties, is considering toughening anti-terrorist measures, including expelling the families of terrorists. One of the proponents of that proposal, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, also proposed placing a lockdown on Isawiya, the attacker’s neighborhood, but was unsure that such a measure would be legal.
The 20-year-old victim, Alter Shlomo Liderman, was a student who had recently gotten married, multiple Israeli outlets reported. Some reports said he was killed by gunfire aimed at the attacker. The child who was killed has not yet been identified.
Kan, Israel’s public broadcaster, reported that the attacker had praised the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group on multiple occasions on Facebook.
This article originally appeared on JTA.org.
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