Hamas praises car ramming near Jenin

"Hamas blesses the heroic and courageous Jenin operation, which is an affirmation of our Palestinian people’s insistence in staying on the path of resistance..."

By ADAM RASGON
Updated: MARCH 18, 2018 14:51
Palestinian Hamas supporters shout slogans during a rally marking the 30th anniversary of Hamas' founding, in the West Bank city of Nablus December 15, 2017. REUTERS/Abed Omar Qusini (photo credit: ABED OMAR QUSINI/REUTERS)
Palestinian Hamas supporters shout slogans during a rally marking the 30th anniversary of Hamas' founding, in the West Bank city of Nablus December 15, 2017. REUTERS/Abed Omar Qusini
(photo credit: ABED OMAR QUSINI/REUTERS)
A Hamas spokesman on Friday praised what the IDF called a car ramming attack in the West Bank.
Evacuation of IDF soldiers after West Bank ramming, March 16 ,2018 (Reuters)
A Palestinian rammed and killed two soldiers and wounded two other soldiers, one severely, near the Mevo Dotan settlement in the northern West Bank on Friday afternoon, the IDF said.
The Shin Bet identified the rammer as Alaa Kabha from Barta’a, a village near Jenin, and Palestinian media said he is 26. The agency said the driver confessed to the ramming. His family said it was an accident, according to Kan 11. 
“Hamas blesses the heroic and courageous Jenin operation, which is an affirmation of our Palestinian people’s insistence in staying on the path of resistance and employing all of its tools and means to defend itself and confront the occupation,” Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said in a statement published on the Islamist movement’s official website.
“We call on our people and its factions... to escalate the Jerusalem intifada and raise the cost of the occupation.”
He did not say that Hamas was responsible for the ramming. Hamas, however, called for Friday to be a “Day of Rage” a couple of days ago.
Islamic Jihad said the ramming “is a response in the name of the Palestinian people to what the enemy perpetrates in terms of crimes and aggression,” according to the Hamas-linked Palestinian Information Center.
Senior PA officials in Ramallah did not publicly comment on the ramming. Nonetheless, the PA security forces reportedly take frequent action against Palestinians planning attacks against Israelis.
A Palestinian Authority security official told The Jerusalem Post in January that the PA security forces “are constantly trying to prevent attacks” against Israelis.