A PALESTINIAN MOTORIST rammed his car into pedestrians in the West Bank today, wounding three Israelis before he was shot by Israeli troops, the military said.
The military declined to comment on the condition of the three Israelis or that of the Palestinian driver – although Asher Salmon, an official at a Jerusalem hospital, told Israeli Channel 2 TV that at least two of the pedestrians were seriously wounded.
The incident took place near the Jewish settlement of Shilo.
It comes as tensions between Israelis and Palestinians are high after the torching of a Palestinian home in the West Bank last week by suspected Jewish extremists that killed a Palestinian toddler and severely wounded his parents and 4-year-old brother.
Israeli media showed footage of a white car overturned on a road in the West Bank as paramedics treated the wounded.
It was unclear if today’s attack was related to last week’s.
In the past year, Israel has seen a wave of so-called “lone wolf” attacks by Palestinians using vehicles, knives and guns.
Earlier today, a Palestinian health official said at least four Palestinians from the same family were killed and 13 people were injured in the Gaza Strip by an explosion of Israeli bomb left over from last summer’s war.
Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said the ordnance exploded as Palestinian workers were helping family members remove rubble from a home destroyed during the 50-day war between Israel and the Hamas militants who rule the coastal territory.
The home, which was struck by an Israeli air strike on July 9 of last year, belonged to Ayman Abu Nqira, a lecturer at the Islamic University of Gaza.
The Israeli military declined to say why it was targeted.
Rabie Abu Nqira, an eyewitness, said he was helping a crew remove rubble from the home using a bulldozer and another earth mover.
“A huge explosion occurred,” he said.
Neighbours said the explosion might have been caused by cooking gas cylinders that exploded in the summer heat.
Last year, six people, including an Associated Press video journalist and his Palestinian translator, were killed as Gaza police engineers tried to defuse unexploded Israeli ordnance. Three people, including an AP photographer, were badly injured.
AP with reporting from Daragh Brophy.
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