Israel troops wounded in Jerusalem car-ramming as violence flares

JERUSALEM: A car-ramming targeting Israeli troops in Jerusalem wounded 14 people early Thursday as an uptick of violence hit the Palestinian territories following Washington’s controversial Middle East peace plan.

Three people were killed by Israeli fire — in annexed east Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank — during clashes that have escalated since US President Donald Trump unveiled his long-delayed proposals last month.

A manhunt was underway for the driver in the car-ramming, who fled the scene in the heart of west Jerusalem after the attack, which took place shortly before 2:00 am (2400 GMT). The attacker struck on the street where the soldiers had been marching, the army said.

One of the soldiers was “severely injured” and rushed to hospital. Public radio said they were new recruits on their way to an induction ceremony at Jerusalem’s Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray. “During the incident, a terrorist sped his car toward soldiers,” the army said. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the driver had been identified.

“The vehicle was found and now there is a manhunt taking place by counterterrorism and military units for the terrorist. We know his identity,” Rosenfeld told AFP at the scene. There have been car-rammings targeting Israeli troops in the past, in the occupied West Bank as well as Jerusalem. The Islamist Hamas movement, which controls Gaza, hailed the car-ramming as a “practical response” to US President Donald Trump’s controversial Middle East peace plan.

In a statement, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said the attack was part of the “resistance operation” but stopped short of claiming responsibility. In an interview published on Hamas’s official website, the group’s leader Ismail Haniya rejected calls to disarm and said the group would “continue in our strategy of building up force, including in the West Bank and Jerusalem, until we can liberate our homeland.

The Palestinians have angrily rejected Trump’s plan, which unilaterally gives Israel most of what it has sought in previous negotiations. Trump’s adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner was scheduled to meet behind closed-doors with UN Security Council members later on Thursday to present the plan, which he drew up.