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Four Israeli soldiers killed in truck attack
A Palestinian truck driver rammed into a crowd at a tourist site in Jerusalem, killing four people and wounding 17 others in the deadliest attack of more than a year of increased violence.
JERUSALEM — A Palestinian truck driver rammed his vehicle into a crowd of Israeli soldiers at a popular Jerusalem tourist spot Sunday, killing four people and wounding 17 others in the deadliest attack of more than a year of increased Israeli-Palestinian violence.
The attack came at a time of heightened tensions in Jerusalem, where Palestinians have warned of dire consequences if incoming President Donald Trump follows through on his promise to move the U.S. Embassy to the city. The atmosphere among Israelis is also charged following last week’s manslaughter conviction of an Israeli soldier who fatally shot a wounded Palestinian attacker.
Visiting the attack site, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there was strong evidence the attacker was a supporter of the Islamic State group and suggested a link to previous vehicle attacks in Europe.
“We know that there is a sequence of terror attacks. There definitely could be a connection between them, from France to Berlin and now Jerusalem,” he said.
Netanyahu offered no evidence to support the claim. Islamic State is not known to have any serious presence in Israel or the Palestinian areas. Israel has said that two gunmen who carried out a deadly attack in Tel Aviv last June were inspired by Islamic State.
The attacker, identified as 28-year-old Fadi Qunbar, came from a Palestinian neighborhood in east Jerusalem near the attack site.
The neighborhood has sporadically experienced violent clashes between residents and Israeli security forces. Netanyahu ordered a closing of the neighborhood. Israeli media said his Security Cabinet decided to destroy the attacker’s home and withhold the release of his body.
Relatives and neighbors said Qunbar, a father of four, espoused an ultra-conservative version of Islam, known as Salafism and had no known ties to militant groups.
No group claimed Sunday’s attack. The vast majority of attacks in the current wave of violence were carried out by people without links to militant groups.
A woman who identified herself as Qunbar’s sister said police had arrested the attacker’s parents, wife and two brothers.
The Israeli military said three cadets and an officer were killed and 17 were wounded.
Security camera footage broadcast on Israeli TV stations showed the truck barreling at a high speed into a crowd of soldiers gathered next to a bus. The truck then quickly backed up before the driver was shot dead. “He drove backward to crush more people. That was really clear,” Leah Schreiber, a witness, told reporters.
The U.S. State Department condemned the attack “in the strongest possible terms.” The European Union also condemned the attack and “any praise or incitement for terrorist attacks.”
The While House issued its own condemnation. National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said American officials “offer our full support to our Israeli partners” in determining those responsible.
Tensions have been rising in the city after a series of statements by people close to Trump that he is determined to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem. The U.S., like other countries, keeps its embassy in Tel Aviv, saying the fate of Jerusalem must be decided in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.
Israel claims the entire city as its capital. The Palestinians seek east Jerusalem, captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war, as the capital of a future state. Israel has annexed the eastern sector, home to the Old City and sensitive holy sites, and says it will never allow the city to be divided.
On Friday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, invited Trump to visit the West Bank and urged him not to move the embassy.
Abbas said that doing so would mark a “red line that we don’t accept.” He promised to use all “diplomatic and political tools” to fight any such move but ruled out a violent response, saying “we renounce terrorism.”
Since September 2015, Palestinian attackers have killed 40 Israelis and two visiting Americans in knifings, shootings and car-rammings. During that time, 230 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli gunfire.
Israel says most of the Palestinians killed over the past 16 months were attackers. The Palestinians and rights groups say Israel has at times used excessive force.