Mayor: “Police should be deployed in Arab neighborhoods;” Netanyhau blames Abbas and unity government

i24News–A three-month-old baby died Wednesday at Hadassah Mount Scopus Medical Center in Jerusalem after being hit by a car running over people waiting at the light rail’s Ammunition Hill station.

The driver, 21-year-old Abed al Rahman al Shloody, was a resident of the Arab neighborhood of Silwan and a Hamas member, who was arrested in the past on suspicion of terror related activity and released. He suffered severe injuries and later died at the hospital, it was reported shortly before Thursday midnight.

“The Palestinian terrorist who ran over eight people in Jerusalem this evening, injuring them and killing a baby, was a member of Hamas,” spokesman for the Israeli prime minister’s office, Ofir Gendelman, wrote on his official Twitter feed.

Family members told AFP that al Shloody was a close relative of a senior Hamas bomb-maker called Muhi al-Din Sharif who was killed in the West Bank city of Ramallah in mysterious circumstances in 1998.

Seven other people were wounded in the “hit-and-run terror attack”: Two were moderately injured and four sustained light wounds.

Two men in their 20s arrived at Hadassah Mount Scopus Medical Center in light condition. The Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center received three wounded women, one in serious condition and two lightly injured.

“A private car hit passengers from the light rail near the police national headquarters. The car’s driver attempted to escape and was shot, apparently by a police officer from the Jerusalem district,” police spokeswoman Luba Samri said in a statement.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the car struck the train station near the national headquarters of the police force.”There is a strong possibility that it was a terror attack,” he said.

Israel’s Interior Security Minister Aharonovich said “all signs indicate this is a terror attack” but stressed, “This is not an intifada.”

Aharonovich also noted that he had spoken with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and that the police and the Shin Bet security services were investigating.

Netanyahu on Wednesday evening ordered the police deployment in Jerusalem to be reinforced, adding: This is how [Mahmoud] Abbas’ government partners operate, the same Abbas, who only a few days ago incited against Jews in Jerusalem.”

Jeruslem’s Mayor Nir Barkat said: “The situation in Jerusalem is unbearable. We need to unequivocally act against all the violence in the city. Police forces should be deployed in the Arab neighborhoods.”

Economy Minister Naftali Bennett commented on the deadly terror attack in Jerusalem, saying “the Israeli government has failed as far as security is concerned in Jerusalem.

“What happened today is a continuation of hundreds of terror attacks in recent months, which went unanswered.

“Whoever is afraid to build in Jerusalem, whoever shows restrain in face of stone throwing in the capital, and whoever allows train stations and gas stations to be set ablaze is telling the world they have given up sovereignty over Jerusalem – and if there is no sovereignty then there is no security, the time has come to get a grips.”

Security forces raided Wednesday night the home of the terrorist in East Jerusalem, beating up his father, Palestinian sources reported.

Hamas Spokesman Husam Badran lauded the attack: “This is a natural reaction to the crimes of the occupation and to the Jewish invasion in general and Al-Aqsa Mosque in particular.”

The light rail said in a statement that it is running a partial service between the Mount Herzl and Damascus Gate and the Givat HaMivtar stations.

Dozens of Palestinians rioted in Isawiya and Silwan after the attack, throwing stones at the police, which attempted to disperse the riot. An Israeli man was lightly wounded by stones hurled at his car in East Jerusalem.

It was the second such deadly attack with a vehicle in the city in just under three months. During the most recent incident in August, which took place in the same area, a Palestinian man rammed a bus with an excavator, killing one Israeli and injuring five. The driver was shot dead by police.