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Photo:
Scene. Published by IMEMC News

Scene. Credit: Olivier Fitoussi Published by Haaretz

Scene. זירת הפיגוע בכניסה לשכונת רמות בירושלים, היום Credit: אוליבייה פיטוסי Published by Haaretz

Alter Shlomo Liderman, who was killed in the attack in Ramot. Published by Haaretz
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by IMEMC News
Feb 10, 2023

Israeli sources have reported Friday that a child and a young man were killed and five Israelis were injured in what was described as a car-ramming attack after a Palestinian driver struck a bus stop near Shu’fat, northwest of occupied Jerusalem.

The sources said the incident occurred in Ramot and added that a child, 6, and a young man, 20, were killed before the Palestinian driver, Hussein Qaraqe’, 31, from the Al-Isawiya town in Jerusalem, was shot dead at the scene.

Israeli Jerusalem Post daily said an off-duty police officer who rushed to the scene shot the Palestinian driver.

The driver reportedly rammed his car into several pedestrians at a bus stop before he was shot and killed.

According to the Jerusalem Post, two children were listed as critically injured in the attack, two adults were seriously injured, and two suffered moderate wounds before the child, a six-year-old boy, and the young men succumbed to their wounds.

Israeli Ynet News said soldiers and police officers were searching for “other potential suspects,” adding that they entered a synagogue with their guns drawn during the search.

Also Friday, an Israeli colonizer rammed a Palestinian with his car in the Qalqas area, south of Hebron city, in the southern part of the West Bank.

Medical sources said the Palestinian, Sufian Mohammad Al-Jo’ba, 38, suffered a fracture in his arm and was moved to a hospital in the city.
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Child, Man Killed in Jerusalem Car Ramming Attack, Palestinian Attacker Shot Dead

The driver, a 31-year-old East Jerusalem resident, was shot dead at the scene of the car ramming in the Ramot neighborhood ■ Israeli forces enter attacker's Isawiyah neighborhood after government calls to seal off his home

by Aaron Rabinowitz, Yael Freidson, Yaniv Kubovich, Nir Hasson, Jack Khoury, Jonathan Lis, and Ben Samuels for Haaretz
Feb 10, 2023 1:42 pm IST

One six-year-old child and one 20-year-old were killed and several pedestrians were injured when a vehicle rammed into a bus stop on Friday, in a terror attack in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramot.

The 6-year-old victim was identified as Yaakov Pelli; he lived in Ramot. His funeral was held on Friday afternoon, and was restricted to family members and neighbors. The 20-year-old victim was identified as Alter Shlomo Liderman, a Jerusalem resident who had just gotten married four months ago. His funeral will be held on Saturday night.

According to the Magen David Adom emergency rescue service, five other people were injured in the attack, including another child, around eight years old, who remains in critical condition; two people are unconscious and in serious condition, and two are in moderate condition.

The driver was shot dead at the scene by an off-duty police officer. He was identified as Hussein Qaraqe, 31-year-old a father of three. According to a Palestinian source from Isawiyah, he had been renting an apartment in the East Jerusalem neighborhood for the past five years. His mother is a resident of A-Tur in East Jerusalem, and his father hails from the Dheisha refugee camp, near Bethlehem. The source added that Qaraqe was injured in an accident at a construction site six months ago and never recovered. A government official confirmed that Qaraqe was recently released from a psychiatric ward.

A Yeshiva student who was at the scene said: "For about a minute, several people with guns stood around the vehicle and pointed at the driver, but did not shoot. The driver made a sign with his hands as if to say 'no,' and everyone held their fire. At some point, someone threw a large stone at the vehicle, the attacker moved, and everyone fired at him."

Another witness added, "I heard the noise and ran to the scene. At first everyone thought it was an accident, but then I heard the gunshots and realized it was an attack."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bureau released a statement saying that the premier would work immediately to seal off and destroy Qaraqe's home. However, a source in the government said that the government's legal advisers will discuss the move on Sunday in light of the fact that he lived in a rented apartment.

Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Jerusalem District Police Commander Doron Turgeman arrived at the scene. Ben-Gvir told reporters at the scene that he ordered police to set up checkpoints throughout the attacker's Isawiyah neighborhood, "and to stop everyone one by one, and just check each vehicle."

He added that he wanted to impose a full lockdown on the East Jerusalem neighborhood, "But there's a legal question to that, and we'll discuss it." Ben-Gvir also said that these matters alone are insufficient, and that he would like to impose the death penalty on terrorists.

He also noted that, in the coming week, he will be presenting legislation that that would ease the firearms permit process for civilians, and that would "allow [forces] to conduct searches of each home, without legal teams."

After a security assessment with the Jerusalem District Police attended by Shabtai, Turgeman and senior police officials, Ben-Gvir ordered police to prepare for "Operation Defensive Shield 2," referring to the extensive operation carried out by IDF forces in the West Bank during the second intifada.

A senior government official speaking on condition of anonymity criticized Ben-Gvir's statement, saying that "one doesn't announce [the launching of] Operation Defensive Shield at the crime scene," and added that the previous operation, launched in 2002, was decided upon after 131 Israelis were killed in one month. The source also said that as of now, there is no intention to impose a lockdown in East Jerusalem.

Following a meeting with the IDF chief of staff, the deputy head of the Shin Bet, and other major defense officials, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant signed an order imposing economic sanctions on 87 East Jerusalem residents who had been indicted for terrorism and their family members. The order would seize the funds, totaling millions of shekels, paid by the Palestinian Authority to current and released prisoners, for their time in jail.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken released a statement condemning the attack saying, "We strongly condemn today’s terrorist attack on civilians, including children, at a bus stop in Jerusalem and express our condolences to the families of those killed. The deliberate targeting of innocent civilians is repugnant and unconscionable. The United States extends our deepest sympathies to the injured, and we stand firmly with them in the face of this attack."

Blinken discussed the deteriorating state of affairs between Israel and the Palestinians with French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna shortly after the attack, briefing her on his recent trip to the region.

A large number of Israeli police officers entered Isawiyah on Friday afternoon, and according to witnesses, raided Qaraqe's home and arrested several people, mainly his family members and acquaintances, including Qaraqe's wife, father and brother.

According to witnesses in the neighborhood, locals began clashing with the forces shortly after they entered the home and made the arrest. Young people threw stones at police, who responded with tear gas and smoke grenades.

A senior member of the political wing of the Islamic Jihad militant group said that the attack "is a strike against National Security Minister Ben-Gvir and the Israeli intelligence system." He added, "Resistance to the occupation is a legitimate right, whether that is firing rockets, or shooting, or stabbing, or car ramming, or any of the other tools available to the Palestinian Authority."

This is a developing story.
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Ben-Gvir Calls for West Bank Operation, Netanyahu Orders to Seal Off J'lem Attacker's Home

The government's legal advisers might halt the sealing of the house since it was rented and not owned by the attacker - a father of three who was recently released from a psychiatric ward

by Ran Shimoni, Jonathan Lis, Michael Hauser Tov for Haaretz
Feb 10, 2023 5:38 pm IST

Israel's National Security Minister on Friday ordered police to prepare for "Operation Defensive Shield 2," referring to the extensive military operation carried out in the West Bank during the second intifada, following a Palestinian car ramming attack that killed a man and a 6-year-old child earlier that day.

After a security assessment with the Jerusalem District Police attended by Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai, and Jerusalem District Commander Doron Turgeman and senior police officials, Itamar Ben-Gvir's office issued a statement saying that the goal of the operation is "to fight and uproot terror." The National Ministry Office said they were preparing a plan of the operation and did not provide further details.

A senior government official speaking on condition of anonymity criticized Ben-Gvir's statement, saying that "one doesn't announce [the launching of] Operation Defensive Shield at the crime scene," and added that the previous operation, launched in 2002, was decided upon after 131 Israelis were killed in one month. The source also said that as of now, there is no intention to impose a lockdown in East Jerusalem.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered to seal off the East Jerusalem home of the attacker, Hussein Qaraqe, a 31-year-old a father of three, ahead of its demolition. A government official confirmed that Qaraqe was recently released from a psychiatric ward. He also told Haaretz that the government's legal advisers will discuss the sealing of the house on Sunday in light of the fact that Qaraqe lived in a rented apartment.

Demolitions of houses of Palestinians have been canceled in the past after it was proven that they suffered from mental illness, or in cases in which they live in apartments that did not belong to them.

Clashes later ensued in Isawiyah after police arrested Qaraqe's wife, father, and brother. Palestinians began throwing stones and police responded by firing smoke grenades and tear gas canisters.

Ben-Gvir told reporters at the scene that he ordered police to set up checkpoints throughout the attacker's Isawiyah neighborhood, "and to stop everyone one by one, and just check each vehicle."

He added that he wanted to impose a full lockdown on the East Jerusalem neighborhood, "But there's a legal question to that, and we'll discuss it." Ben-Gvir also said that these matters alone are insufficient, and that he would like to impose the death penalty on terrorists.

He also noted that, in the coming week, he will be presenting legislation that that would ease the firearms permit process for civilians, and that would "allow [forces] to conduct searches of each home, without legal teams."

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said after the attack that he pledges to do everything possible to bring security to the citizens of Israel.

"We deal with monsters that remind us again and again who the real enemy is, we must be brothers and united in the war against him. In the uncompromising fight against terrorism with harsh measures against its supporters, and in tremendous momentum of construction and development throughout our country that will make it clear to the enemy that he will never achieve his goal of expelling us from our country," Smotrich added.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant signed an order imposing economic sanctions on 87 East Jerusalem residents who had been indicted for terrorism and their family members. The order would seize the funds, totaling millions of shekels, paid by the Palestinian Authority to current and released prisoners, for their time in jail.

Twenty-year-old Alter Shlomo Liderman and six-year-old Yaakov Pelli were killed after Qaraqe rammed a car into a bus stop in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramot. Five more people were injured in the attack, including an eight-year-old who is in critical condition.

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