JERUSALEM — A Hamas militant slammed a minivan into a crowd waiting for a train Wednesday in Jerusalem, killing one person and wounding 13 in a midday attack that raised fears of worsening violence after months of simmering tensions in the holy city.
Hamas said the attack, the second of its kind in two weeks, was meant to protect the city’s most sensitive and sacred site — the compound known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount.
It also injected new religious fervor into unrest fueled by failed peace efforts and increased Jewish settlement construction in the eastern sector.
The violence spilled over to the West Bank later Wednesday when a Palestinian motorist drove into a group of soldiers, wounding three in a suspected attack, the Israeli military said. The forces were searching for the driver, who fled the scene.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed the Jerusalem attack on incitement stemming from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and “his Hamas partners,” a reference to a unity government led by Abbas and backed by the Islamic militant group.
“We are in a prolonged battle in Jerusalem,” Netanyahu said. “I have no doubt we will win. We are deploying all the necessary forces to restore calm and security to all parts of the city, but it may certainly be a prolonged struggle.”
Israel has been trying for months to quell the unrest in east Jerusalem that began this past summer but has surged over tensions surrounding the holy site. Earlier in the day, Israeli police had dispersed dozens of masked Palestinians who threw rocks and firecrackers near the site in the Old City ahead of a visit by a group of Jewish activists.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry condemned what he called “the terrorist attack in Jerusalem,” and added that “the confrontation at the Al-Aqsa Mosque is also of particular concern.”
