BICOM

Several Israelis were wounded in four separate attacks yesterday which took place in Jerusalem and the West Bank.

In the first attack, a Palestinian opened fire from a car at the Hizme checkpoint just outside Jerusalem. A 47-year-old man was moderately wounded and evacuated to a Jerusalem hospital, while a soldier was lightly wounded and treated at the checkpoint. The attacker, later named as Mazen Aribah of Abu Dis in East Jerusalem, was shot dead on the scene. It was also revealed that Aribah was an officer in the Palestinian security forces, whose father and nephew had previously carried out terror attacks.

During the afternoon, a 21-year-old Palestinian man from Tulkarm stabbed an Israeli policeman near the Old City in Jerusalem. The two struggled, before fellow police officers opened fire and killed the assailant. In addition to stab wounds, the injured policeman also sustained a gunshot wound during the altercation.

Yesterday evening, two attacks took place. A 20-year-old Israeli soldier was lightly wounded after being stabbed at the Tel Rumeida military post in the West Bank city of Hebron. Two Palestinian attackers were shot dead at the scene. Meanwhile, an Israeli car came under fire just north of Jerusalem. Around ten bullets were fired near the settlement of Kohav Yaakov, but there were no injuries and the driver was able to continue moving and report the incident. Bullet casings were found at the scene. The Walla news site said that security forces were determining whether those responsible were waiting in ambush or whether they had opened fire from a nearby Palestinian village.

Also yesterday, the IDF demolished the home of the head of a terror cell which shot and killed Eitam and Na’ama Henkin in front of their four children in a drive-by shooting in the West Bank on 1 October. There were no clashes during the demolition in Nablus. Israel has recently increased the destruction of terrorists’ homes as a deterrent to would-be future attackers.