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An Israeli mother and her three young daughters were seriously injured after a rock throwing incident appeared to cause their car to crash into a truck near the major West Bank settlement bloc of Ariel.

Travelling on Route 5, the car veered off course when either it or an oncoming truck was apparently struck by rocks. The mother, who was driving the car and two of her daughters, aged four and five were moderately injured in the crash, while a three-year-old daughter is in a critical condition. Israel Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP, “It is highly likely that the accident was caused by stone-throwing, because the truck’s windscreen was smashed and several stones were found on the road.”

An Israeli man and a ten-year-old boy were also injured by rocks thrown in the same area and Channel Ten reported that there had been an increase of more than fifty-per-cent in rock throwing incidents in the West Bank over recent weeks.

This trend comes amidst existing high tensions in the West Bank. Yesterday, Israeli soldiers opened fire on a group of Palestinian youths who had reportedly attacked them with Molotov cocktails and rocks, near the city of Tulkarm. An 18-year-old Palestinian was injured but said to be in stable condition. Meanwhile, on Tuesday, a similar incident resulted in the death of a Palestinian near Hebron.

During the past month, a significant number of violent Palestinian demonstrations have taken place in the West Bank to protest Israel’s detention of Palestinian prisoners. However, speaking at the Herzliya policy and security conference yesterday Military Intelligence chief, Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, said that despite the violence, “There is no third Intifada potential here.”