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A three-month-old baby was killed and eight other people wounded when a Palestinian rammed a vehicle into a crowd of commuters at a light rail station in east Jerusalem late on Wednesday, police and witness said.
Eyewitnesses said the driver deliberately plowed into pedestrians as they disembarked from the train at Ammunition Hill, a few hundred meters from National Police headquarters, though police had not yet declared the incident a terrorist attack.
Micky Rosenfeld, a police spokesman, said the driver attempted to flee the scene on foot before being shot and captured. He was rushed to a nearby hospital with chest wounds, and was later reported to be in critical condition.
Israel Radio identified him as Abdel Raham al-Shaludi, 20, a resident of the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan. Israeli media said he is a Hamas member who served time in Israeli prison for "security offenses."
A Hamas spokesman lauded the attack, saying it was "a natural reaction to the crimes of the occupation" but stopped short of claiming responsibility.
The infant killed in the attack, Hayah Zisso, who was initially listed in critical condition, succumbed to her wounds shortly after taken comatose into surgery, hospital officials said. A paramedic said she was hit while lying in her stroller. Two people, including a 50-year-old woman, were in serious condition, and five others sustained light to moderate injuries, medical services said.
A senior police official said several of the wounded, as well as the dead infant, are U.S. citizens. He requested anonymity until the U.S. State Department issues a confirmation, according to the Jerusalem Post.
Israeli State Department deputy spokeswoman Mari Harf neither confirmed nor denied that Americans were among the casualties. She "urged restraint," calling on the Israelis and Palestinians to " maintain calm" while Israeli and U.S. officials are jointly investigating the incident, the Post said, noting that the attack came two days after nine Jewish families moved into the suspected assailant's neighborhood amid condemnation from the international community.
Following the attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a security consultation with certain high-ranking officials, ordering in a conference call that security forces in Jerusalem be reinforced, according to a statement by Netanyahu's office.
"This is how Abu Mazen's (Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas) partners in government work, the same Abu Mazen who, only days ago, incited to harm Jews in Jerusalem," Netanyahu said in the statement.
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat also released a statement, saying that Netanyahu further instructed to implement a plan formulated to deal with rioting, which includes additional manpower, special units and increased intelligence.
"I'll continue to be vigilant, and we will not rest until security is restored in Jerusalem," he said.
Public Security Minister Aharonovitch, who later visited the scene of the attack, said that "all signs" indicated the ramming was a terror attack," but noted that "this is not an intifada which means Palestinian popular uprising."
Shortly after his remarks, rioting erupted in Isawiya and Silwan, where residents clashed with security forces, police spokesman Rosenfeld said, adding that forces had the situation under control.
Silwan is located in east Jerusalem, a territory Israel captured from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East war and which was later annexed in a move that has not been recognized internationally.
Over the past month, Jewish settlers took over more than 30 apartments in Silwan, as part of their efforts to settle as many Jews as possible in Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem.
There have been numerous attacks by Palestinians in recent weeks against the light rail in Jerusalem, amidst simmering tensions in the city since Israel's 50-day military campaign against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
