Unrest in Jerusalem

In Jerusalem, clashes between Israelis and Palestinians increased in October and November as tensions rose over new Israeli settlements being built in East Jerusalem and the limiting of access to the al-Aqsa Mosque in the Old City.

In September, an Israeli settler in the West Bank hit and killed a Palestinian child with his car. Israeli police declared that incident to be an accident. 

In late October in Jerusalem, an Ecuadorian woman and a baby were killed when a Palestinian hit them with his car, also injuring seven other pedestrians. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack. 

Two weeks later on Nov. 5, a Palestinian member of Hamas rammed his van into a group of pedestrians, killing two people, including a policeman, and wounding 13. Both drivers were killed by police.

On the same day, a Palestinian drove into a group of Israeli soldiers in the southern West Bank, injuring three. That driver later turned himself in to police.

After the October and November  car attacks, some Palestinians called for a “car uprising,” with cars to be used as weapons, but, as of press time, no further such attacks had occurred.

Israeli police shot and killed a Palestinian man in northern Israel on Nov. 7 in what was initially reported to be self-defense. Video released later showed that the unarmed man was walking away from a police vehicle when he was shot.

On Nov. 10 in two separate incidents, an Israeli woman and an Israeli solider were killed in knife attacks by Palestinians. The soldier was stabbed in Tel Aviv, while the woman was stabbed, along with two other civilians who were injured, in the West Bank near where three Israeli students had been kidnapped and murdered in July. Both attackers were shot by security guards. 

On Nov. 18, four rabbis and a police officer were killed and at least seven others wounded by two Palestinians armed with pistols and cleavers in a synagogue in Jerusalem. The two attackers were killed by nearby police who responded during the incident.