Jerusalem (AFP) – A Palestinian opened fire from a car in Jerusalem on Sunday and again as Israeli police chased him, killing two people, officials said, as fears grew of a new spike in violence.
The gunman, reportedly scheduled to begin a prison term the same day, was killed soon after carrying out the attack near police headquarters, close to the line dividing mainly Arab east Jerusalem from the city’s mostly Jewish western sector.
Israeli media reported that the dead included a police officer, but there was no immediate confirmation. Medics said the two killed were a 30-year-old man and a woman aged 60.
It was among the deadliest attacks in Jerusalem over the past year.
The shooting rampage comes at a time of increased Jewish visitors to the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound in east Jerusalem for the holidays of Rosh Hashanah, which was last week, and Yom Kippur, which begins Tuesday evening.
Police said the 39-year-old assailant fired in the direction of a tram station in the area, seriously wounding a woman.
He then continued at high speed and shot at a car, leaving another woman badly hurt, they added.
The attacker then headed toward the nearby neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, where a number of upscale hotels are located, and got out of his car, police said.
As officers approached him by motorcycle, he opened fire on them.
Police returned fire and killed him, but two officers were wounded, including one seriously, they said.
Police said the attacker was from the Silwan area of east Jerusalem.
– Due for prison term –
Palestinian media identified the man as Misbah Abu Sbeih and said he was due to begin a four-month prison term on Sunday for attacking an Israeli police officer in 2013.
The reports said Abu Sbeih was a well-known figure at Al-Aqsa mosque and was banned from entering for several months.
In his last public Facebook post on October 7, Abu Sbeih wrote about his longing for the holy site and said “Al-Aqsa is a responsibility you have been entrusted with”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking at the start of a cabinet meeting, saluted the police, saying they had “acted rapidly and very firmly against the terrorist, who was eliminated”.
A spokesman for Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip, welcomed the attack.
Fawzi Barhoum called it “a natural reaction to the crimes and violations of the occupation against our people”.
Al-Aqsa mosque compound is holy to both Muslims and Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount.
– Concerns of fresh violence –
The site is central to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with Palestinians fearing that Israel may one day seek to assert further control over it.
Last year’s Jewish high holidays led to clashes and marked the start of an upsurge in Palestinian gun, knife and car-ramming attacks.
Violence since October 2015 has killed at least 232 Palestinians, 34 Israelis, two Americans, one Jordanian, an Eritrean and a Sudanese national, according to an AFP count.
Most of the Palestinians were carrying out attacks, according to Israeli authorities.
Others were shot dead during protests and clashes, while some were killed in air strikes on the Gaza Strip.
Many analysts say Palestinian frustration with the Israeli occupation and settlement-building in the West Bank, the complete lack of progress in peace efforts and their own fractured leadership have fed the unrest.
Israel says incitement by Palestinian leaders and media is a leading cause of the violence.
The vast majority of the attacks have been carried out by lone-wolf assailants, Israeli authorities say. Many have been young people, including teenagers.
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