Israeli security forces prevented an attempted Palestinian car-ramming attack at the a-Za’im checkpoint near Ma’ale Adumim just outside Jerusalem yesterday.
IDF Border Police were suspicious of the driver after he presented falsified identification documents while trying to enter the area. According to Israeli police, “during the security check, the suspect started speeding, hitting a border policeman who was at the scene. Following this, the policeman and the security personnel fired at the vehicle.”
An Israeli police officer was lightly injured in the attack. The terrorist suspect was taken to the Hadassah Medical Center on Mount Scopus in Jerusalem after being shot, where he died of his wounds.
There was no immediate comment from Palestinian officials.
Palestinians carried out a wave of terrorist car-rammings in Jerusalem and the West Bank in late 2015 and 2016, but the frequency of such incidents has since ebbed.
Earlier this month on 4 November, a member of the Palestinian security forces opened fire with a pistol from his car at IDF troops at the Samaria Brigade Square near Nablus. The terrorist, identified as 28-year-old Bilal Rujava, was shot and killed in retaliatory gunfire. There were no Israeli casualties during the incident.
Israeli-Palestinian peace talks broke down in 2014. The Palestinians want to establish a state in east Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, on territories Israel captured in the 1967 Six Day War.