It’s clear that Hamas terrorists have decided to use vehicles just as they use rockets as they try to murder Israelis. And in this instance they targeted three IDF soldiers, wounding one seriously:
JERUSALEM POST – Three IDF soldiers were injured Wednesday night after a Palestinian vehicle slammed into them on Route 60 southwest of Bethlehem in an attempt to target the Israeli forces, the IDF spokesperson’s office said.
A freight truck with Palestinian license plates hit the three IDF soldiers, wounding one seriously and two moderately in what he IDF said was a terror attack, making it the second such vehicular attack targeting Israelis on Wednesday.
The perpetrating vehicle fled the scene immediately after the attack, and security forces set up roadblocks and launched searches of the area of the southern West Bank.
The soldiers were apparently near a military position when they were attacked.
Magen David Adom spokesman Zaki Heller said paramedics treated three Israelis aged 20, one with serious chest wounds, and two moderately injured men with broken bones and injuries in their limbs. The wounded were evacuated to the Hadassan Ein Kerem hospital in Jerusalem.
Security forces were fanning out in an attempt to locate the driver. The IDF is also investigating the incident and taking part in the widespread searches.
The Telegraph is making the case that Israel could be descending into a third intifada:
Menachem Klein, professor of political science at Bar Ilan University, said Jerusalem was facing a renewed intifada, or uprising, after previous uprisings in the 1980s and again from 2000-2005.
“Those who say this is not an intifada have in mind intifada one and two as models, but I refuse to assume that the third intifada should exactly follow the first and the second. It can be different – it’s a popular rejection of the Israeli authority,” he said.
“It’s a local intifada, yes, and Israel is trying to contain it.
“Israel uses different measures in order to stop the intifada in Jerusalem – by using law and settlement expansion.”
This week Israel began pushing through legislation that could see those who throw stones jailed for up to 20 years without the state needing to prove they intended to cause harm.
Since July there have been daily attacks on the light rail which connects the east with west of the city. It was originally built as a bridge between Palestinians and Jews, but today is a symbol of the city’s ethnic divide.