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The scene of the attack

Three Israelis hurt in two terror attacks in West Bank, Jerusalem

Policeman stabbed outside the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem; Israeli civilian moderately wounded, soldier lightly hurt in drive-by shooting attack near Jerusalem; both terrorists shot dead; in third incident, Israeli vehicle comes under fire near Psagot, but none hurt.

Three Israelis, two of them members of Israel's security forces, were wounded in two separate incidents in the West Bank and in Jerusalem on Thursday. In a third incident, an Israeli vehicle came under fire near the Psagot settlement in the West Bank, but none were hurt.

 

 

Ten bullets hit the car that was driving through the Binyamin region. IDF troops were searching the area for the perpetrators.

 

In the afternoon hours, an Israeli policeman was stabbed and light-to-moderately wounded near the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem. The attacker, aged 21 from Tulkarm, was shot dead.

 

The attacker approached a police officer sitting in his car on HaNevi'im Street in Jerusalem, drew out a knife and stabbed the policeman. The policeman fought the attacker, and his fellow officers, who saw the ongoing struggle, opened fire and shot the attacker dead.

 

A Palestinian doctor from a nearby clinic who heard the commotion on the street went outside, noticed the wounded policeman and gave him initial medical care until Magen David Adom paramedics arrived at the scene.

 

"We did our job. We gave him first aid and called an ambulance," said the doctor from Silwan.

 

The scene of the attack at HaNevi'im Street in Jerusalem.
The scene of the attack at HaNevi'im Street in Jerusalem.

 

The 35-year-old wounded policeman suffered a stab wound to his hand and a gunshot wound to his leg, the latter likely caused by Israeli forces' fire when working to neutralize the terrorist.

 

Magen David Adom paramedics evacuated the wounded policeman to the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in the capital, where he was taken into surgery.

 

Earlier in the day, a 47-year-old Israeli man was moderatly wounded and a soldier was lightly wounded when a Palestinian opened fire on them from a moving car near the Hizma checkpoint outside of Jerusalem.

 

The moderately wounded man was evacuated to Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem's Ein Karem, while the soldier was treated on the scene.

 

The terrorist, Mazen Aribah of Abu Dis, was shot dead on the scene. He was later revealed to be an officer in the Palestinian security forces.

 

Mazen Aribah, who carried out Thursday morning's shooting attack that wounded two Israelis.
Mazen Aribah, who carried out Thursday morning's shooting attack that wounded two Israelis.

 

Aribah came from a family with a problematic history of terror attacks. His father carried out a stabbing attack in Jerusalem in 1992 and was jailed in Israel for five years. His nephew was responsible for a stabbing attack on Jaffa Street in 2002 and killed in the process. Wednesday was the anniversary of his death.

 

This is not the first time during the current escalation that a member of the Palestinian security establishment has carried out an attack against an Israeli. A month ago one fired from Silwad towards Israeli security forces, although there were no injuries.

 

In general, however, events such as this are uncommon. Nonetheless, according to Palestinian security sources an internal investigation is likely to be opened, in order to try and understand the reasons for the attack and what led Aribah to carry it out. They are also expected to monitor their personnel in order to prevent further incidents such as this one.

 

The scene of the shooting at the Hizma checkpoint (Photo: Hilel Meyer, TPS)
The scene of the shooting at the Hizma checkpoint (Photo: Hilel Meyer, TPS)

 

 

Yoav Zitun, Elisha Ben Kimon, Elior Levy and Roi Yanovsky contributed to this report.

 


פרסום ראשון: 12.03.15, 11:29
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