A Palestinian man was shot and detained on Thursday after carrying out an alleged car-ramming attack near a settlement in the occupied West Bank, killing one Israeli soldier and wounding another.
The driver, identified as 23-year-old Ahmad Moussa Hamed, ploughed into two Israeli soldiers standing behind concrete barriers near a bus stop outside the Ofra settlement near Ramallah.
Elichai Taherlev, 20, of the Golani Brigade was killed in the incident, and another 19-year-old soldier was lightly injured.
"The detained Palestinian was later identified as Malik Ahmad Moussa Hamed, 23, from the village of Silwad in northeastern Ramallah"… https://t.co/EQIjKFMmWS
— Marian Houk (@Marianhouk) April 6, 2017
Shortly after the attack, Israeli forces raided Hamad’s home in the village of Silwad near Ramallah. Israeli authorities also froze work permits belonging to Hamad’s family members that allowed allowed them to work in Israel, Israeli media reported.
The Hamas movement released statements praising the apparent attack. Hamas spokesperson Abed al-Latif al-Qanou said it was a response to the “continuous Israeli crimes committed against the Palestinians”.
Speaking to Bethlehem-based Ma’an News Agency, Hazem Qassem, another Hamas spokesman, called it “evidence that the Intifada of Jerusalem will go on, and it would only end with liberty and freedom”.
Israeli Occupiers storming the family home of Malik Hamed (alleged car ramming y'day) & kidnapped his brother in Silwad, Ramallah pic.twitter.com/pADhN8yNdl
— Abbs Winston (@AbbsWinston) April 7, 2017
Qassem’s use of to the term “Intifada of Jerusalem” refers to the wave of violence that has spread throughout the occupied territories and Israel since October 2015, which has claimed the lives of 259 Palestinians, 41 Israelis, two Americans, one Jordanian, an Eritrean and a Sudanese, according to a count by AFP news agency.
Qassem added the “attack proved that the Israeli army and settlers are not secure as long as [Palestinian] rights are denied, our land occupied and our people and holy sites assaulted and violated”.
The Thursday morning attack was the first fatal assault on Israelis since January 8, when a Palestinian killed four soldiers in a Jerusalem truck-ramming attack.
Israeli Soldiers Abduct Four Palestinians In Silwad https://t.co/Dnhcj8wt3y pic.twitter.com/5JR9xTQ1GL
— IMEMC News (@imemcnews) April 7, 2017
On Saturday, Israeli police shot and killed a 17-year-old Palestinian man who stabbed two civilians and a border officer in Jerusalem.
The slain Palestinian was identified by the Palestinian Ministry of Health as Amad Zahir Fathi Ghazal, 17, from Nablus.
Witnesses told local media at the time they found more than 25 bullet holes in Ghazal’s apartment, and accused Israeli forces of “executing” him when they could have easily detained him.
(Agencies, Al Jazeera, PC, Social Media)
