BICOM

In one of the bloodiest days of the current wave of violence, three Israelis were murdered and at least 20 injured in four separate attacks yesterday morning in Jerusalem and the central city of Ra’anana.

While a general strike took place across Arab communities in Israel, Palestinian groups including Hamas called for a “Day of Rage.” Violence began early yesterday morning when an East Jerusalem resident stabbed a 32-year-old man on the main street in Ra’anana. The victim was lightly injured and managed to fend of the attacker, who was subdued by other civilians. Just hours later, another East Jerusalem resident stabbed four Ra’anana residents in a similar attack and was overpowered by passers-by.

Meanwhile, two attacks took place almost simultaneously in Jerusalem. Baha Aliyan, 22, and Bilal Ranem, 23, both from Jabel Mukaber in East Jerusalem boarded a bus in the Armon Hanatziv neighbourhood. They began shooting and stabbing passengers while the bus moved, killing two people and wounding at least ten others. A security guard quickly overpowered one of the terrorists, while the other attempted to lock the bus doors but was shot by policeman outside. One of the attackers was killed, the other injured.

At almost the same time, another Jabel Mukaber resident, Alaa Abu Jamal, an employee of national phone company Bezeq, used a company vehicle to plough into pedestrians at a bus stop in the central Jerusalem area of Geula. He hit three people, killing a 60-year-old man and then exited the vehicle and stabbed further victims. Jamal was eventually shot and seriously injured by Border Police.

Hamas praised yesterday’s attacks, calling them a “natural response to the world’s silence.” Meanwhile, for the third time in recent days, Palestinians breached the border fence between Israel and the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip yesterday afternoon. The IDF used crowd dispersal methods to push around 30 Gazans back across the border.