Two people have been reported dead and six injured in a drive-by shooting at a Jerusalem tram stop near the Israeli police headquarters. The gunman was killed by police after a brief car chase.
The attack happened on Sunday at the Ammunition Hill light rail stop, an area that has been the site of a number of attacks over the last two years. It is close to the line dividing mainly Palestinian east Jerusalem from the mostly Jewish western side of the city.
The attacker was provisionally identified by Israeli police as a 39-year-old resident of Silwan, a Palestinian neighbourhood of east Jerusalem.
The victims were named as Levana Malihi, 60, a grandmother and police sergeant Yosef Kirma, 29.
The incident began when a gunman in a car opened fire on the tram stop where one woman was shot. According to police, the gunman then continued into a Palestinian neighbourhood of east Jerusalem where he fired on pursuing police before being shot himself.
“When the terrorist spotted the police he fired at them, and they managed to shoot and kill him,” a police spokeswoman said. One of the police officers was shot by the gunman during the exchange and died.
Images from the scene showed a bus stop damaged by gunfire and a grey car stopped in the middle of the road with the driver’s side window shattered.
The gunman was later identified as Misbah Abu Sbeih who had been due to start a four month prison sentence for assaulting an an Israeli police officer in 2013.
He had previously spent a year in prison after being convicted of social media posts encouraging violence against Israelis and had, on Saturday, complained to a Palestinian news site of recent run-ins with Israeli police.
Palestinians, many acting alone and with rudimentary weapons, have killed at least 33 Israelis and two visiting Americans in attacks. There had been a drop-off in incidents, but recent weeks have seen renewed escalation.
About 218 Palestinians have been killed during that period. Israel says the vast majority of them were attackers.
Israel says anti-Israeli incitement by Palestinian officials and on social media networks is stoking attacks.
Palestinian leaders say assailants are acting out of desperation over the collapse in 2014 of peace talks and the expansion of Israeli settlements on occupied land that Palestinians seek for an independent state.
The last attack in Jerusalem was on 19 September, amid a spate of incidents, when two police officers were wounded, one seriously, in a stabbing close to the Old City.
