The assailant was later name as Amjad Gundi, a 20-year-old man from the West Bank village of Yatta.
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Hours later, a Palestinian man from a Jerusalem neighborhood stabbed and wounded a 15-year-old Jewish boy. The Israeli was wounded, but he drew a handgun and shot and wounded the assailant. No Israelis were seriously hurt. The suspect’s identity was not yet clear but that police were treating the incident as a terrorist attack.
Ashraf al-Ajrami, a former Palestinian minister for prisoners, confirmed the report, saying the prisoners are “heroes” and the money is for their families. That ban was lifted shortly before Wednesday’s stabbing.
Israeli intelligence said the Palestinian gunman had been accidentally shot by his friend as they killed the Israelis in Thursday’s drive-by shooting, prompting them to flee the scene and likely saving the lives of the four children in the back seat.
Mr Netanyahu has warned he will use a “strong hand” to quell the violence. “Civilians are at the forefront of the war against terrorism and must be on maximum alert”.
She has been identified as Shurooq Dweiyat, an 18-year-old from the Sur Baher neighbourhood in East Jerusalem. His office said he was a former military officer and licensed to carry the weapon.
Though at diplomatic loggerheads with Netanyahu over peace talks that stalled in April 2014, the US-backed Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, has also said he seeks no escalation.
Seven other Israeli-licensed cars were damaged in rock attacks on the same road leading from Jerusalem to the Tekoa settlement in the West Bank.
In the second incident, a Palestinian man stabbed an Israeli soldier and stole his rifle after getting off a bus in Kiryat Gat, according to Ynet. It said security forces chased the suspect toward a nearby building and shot him dead.
Earlier, a Palestinian woman stabbed an Israeli man who then shot her in Jerusalem’s Old City, police said.
Police said the attack happened in an alleyway near the Western Wall, a Jewish prayer site abutting the Al-Aqsa mosque complex – Islam’s third holiest shrine, which Jews also revere as the vestige of their two ancient temples. Many Palestinians believe Israel is trying to expand a Jewish presence at the site, a charge Israel adamantly denies.
Around 970 Palestinians have been injured in clashes with Israeli security forces since Saturday, according to the Red Crescent. On Wednesday, the violence appeared to spread south. But aides to Netanyahu said on Wednesday he had cancelled the trip because of the precarious security situation.
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And just today, the Associated Press reported that documents have been uncovered confirming that PA officials have actually paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to prisoners convicted of terrorist attacks on Israelis.
