JERUSALEM —Israeli police and rescue services have announced that four people have died and 15 others have been wounded after a truck rammed into a group of Israeli soldiers who were disembarking from a bus in Jerusalem on Sunday.
According to police spokeswoman Luba Samri, the attacker was shot dead. This is after the truck veered off course and rammed into the group in the Armon Hanatziv neighborhood.
The four casualties who included three women and a man were in their 20s; one of the causalities was also critically injured. This is according to Israel’s rescue service MDA.
According to Roni Alsheich; Israel’s police chief, forces had no advance warning of the attack. Although he refused to elaborate further, he revealed that the attacker was from an Arab neighborhood in east Jerusalem.
This attack, which ranks as one of the deadliest, is now the first Israeli deaths in three months.
Although attacks against Israelis had slowed of late, this one comes after more than yearlong wave of Palestinian stabbing, shooting and vehicular attacks.
Palestinian attackers have killed two visiting Americans and 40 Israelis since September 2015. On the other side, Israeli fire has killed 230 Palestinians.
Israel has been accused of using excessive force in some confrontations by Palestinians and rights groups. Israel has defended itself by saying most of the Palestinians killed were attackers while the rest died in clashes.
Palestinians say the attacks have been caused by dwindling hopes for an independent state and nearly 50 years of Israeli occupation. Israel says the violence is driven by a Palestinian campaign of incitement.
