Two terrorists shot dead in car ramming, stabbing attacks over the weekend

A soldier was run over and wounded near Nablus and the homes of Jerusalem stabbers were mapped out ahead of demolition.

By DANIEL K. EISENBUD, YAAKOV LAPPIN
Car from vehicular ramming attack in West Bank, December 26, 2015 (photo credit: PALESTINIAN SOCIAL MEDIA)
Car from vehicular ramming attack in West Bank, December 26, 2015
(photo credit: PALESTINIAN SOCIAL MEDIA)
A Palestinian terrorist carried out a car-ramming attack on troops manning a checkpoint near Hawara, south of Nablus, on Saturday and was shot dead by soldiers. One soldier was lightly wounded in the leg in the attack.
Earlier in the day, a 26-yearold Palestinian man was shot and killed by police in Jerusalem’s Tzahal Square opposite the Old City, after charging two officers with a knife.
The Jerusalem attack was the second knife assault by a Palestinian terrorist since Wednesday, when two attackers stabbed to death Rabbi Reuven Birmacher, 45, and Ofer Ben Ami, 40, near the Old City’s Jaffa Gate.
According to police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld, at approximately 9:30 a.m. on Saturday two Border Police officers permanently stationed in the well-traveled area identified a man behaving strangely.
“When they identified a man acting suspiciously they approached the individual and asked for his ID card, but took safety precautions at the same time by keeping a safe distance from him, which saved their lives when he pulled a knife and charged them,” Rosenfeld said.
The officers promptly fired at the unidentified east Jerusalem resident, who was pronounced dead at the scene.
Later in the afternoon, some 150 Palestinians gathered a few hundred meters away at Damascus Gate to demand the return of the bodies of terrorists recently killed while making attacks in the capital.
Police used non-lethal means, including tear gas, to disperse the mob when several demonstrators began throwing rocks at officers, Rosenfeld said, adding that no arrests or injuries were reported.
He noted that the Interior Ministry, not the Israel Police, is charged with returning terrorists’ corpses.
Rosenfeld said police will continue to maintain heightened security throughout the capital, with an emphasis on the increasingly volatile Old City, as thousands of Christians visit to celebrate Christmas and the New Year.
“The Israel Police continue to carry out security measures in order to prevent and respond to any terrorist attacks,” he said, adding that no violent incidents have been reported in the Christian Quarter since the holiday began.
On Friday, a female Palestinian driver attempting to run down Border Police officers near the West Bank village of Silwad, north of Ramallah, was shot and killed. No Israelis were injured.
According to a police statement, the officers saw that the woman was accelerating directly at their position and one of them opened fire, killing her.
On Thursday night, security forces arrested five terrorist suspects in West Bank raids. Two of the suspects allegedly took part in terrorism targeting Israelis.
A Hamas member was arrested in Nablus.
Over the weekend the Duvdevan special forces unit and Binyamin Brigade Engineering Corps units mapped out the Kalandiya home of the two deceased terrorists, Isa Wa’anan and Muhammad Khamad, who carried out the deadly stabbing attack at Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem on Wednesday. The homes of both terrorists’ families will be demolished, the army said.