The Israeli army claimed car driven by a Palestinian deliberately rammed into two Israelis, killing one and injuring the other, in the occupied West Bank on Thursday.

The driver was taken into custody after the incident near the Jewish colony of Ofra, the army said in a statement.

Witnesses told Israeli media that as he approached a bus stop, he accelerated and aimed the vehicle at two Israelis waiting there.

The death brings to 39 the number of Israelis killed in a wave of Palestinian street attacks that began in October 2015.

Since October 2015, Israel and the Palestinian territories have been rocked by a wave of violence due to an uptick in Jewish raids on Al Haram Al Sharif

Palestinians fear that the decades-old status quo at the holy shrine of Al Haram Al Sharif in occupied East Jerusalem will be shattered by far right Jewish groups, which advocate for more Jewish worshipping rights.

Jews are allowed to visit the shrine, but they are strictly banned from praying there. Israel captured and annexed the eastern part of Jerusalem in 1967, but the move has never been recognised by the international community.

source : gulfnews