The terrorist, Abd al-Hamid Abu Srur, [who was] about 19 years old, [a] resident of Beit Jala, and affiliated with the Hamas movement, was, as stated, critically wounded during the perpetration of the attack and died of his wounds [on Wednesday] at the hospital.
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The statement says Srour was a member of Hamas, but stops short of claiming responsibility for the attack. “I think there was mass understanding”, she said.
Three “young Jews” who were planning to sacrifice a sheep on the Temple Mount during Passover were arrested on Friday, police announced, saying they “threatened to undermine the peace”.
A large number of the attacks – which have declined sharply in the past few weeks – have been stabbings, although guns and cars also have been used.
Israel released, Friday, the Israeli soldier who was filmed executing a seriously wounded Palestinian in Hebron, to celebrate the Jewish Pesach holiday with his family.
He said he was in a traffic jam when “suddenly there was an explosion in the back, I immediately understood it was a terror attack, I opened the doors of the bus so people could escape and told them to get out”.
Suicide bombings on Israeli buses were a hallmark of the Palestinian revolt of 2000-2005 but have been rare since. The last one was a combined attack on Route 12 in the south, in August 2011, in which one of the terrorists had an explosive belt that he blew up near a bus empty of passengers.
However, the current wave of unrest which has spread across the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel since October has been overwhelmingly marked by a surge of small-scale attacks carried out by Palestinian individuals – predominantly on Israeli military targets.
The level of violence had decreased in the weeks before the bombing, though there have been concerns the Jewish Passover holiday beginning Friday evening could lead to a new surge.
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In the northern entrance of Bethlehem a Palestinian was injured, near the Israeli military checkpoint #300, after an Israeli settler rammed him with his vehicle.
