One person was killed and 22 others injured when a rental car driven by an Arab American crashed into a bus stop at a busy intersection near Jerusalem’s French Hill neighborhood.
Two Jewish settlers from the West Bank settlement of Shilo, who were waiting at the bus stop, opened fire on the driver, killing him.
“This was not a deliberate attack, but an accident,” Jerusalem Police Chief Arye Amit told reporters at the scene. “There are long skid marks, indicating that the car went out control.”
The driver, Ahmed Abdel Hamidi, “had rented the car for seven days in East Jerusalem, and was staying in Ramallah,” Amit said.
The incident came amid the tense atmosphere generated in the wake of Sunday’s attacks in Jerusalem and Ashkelon, in which 27 people, including the two suicide bombers, were killed.
Pedestrians reportedly were waiting at the stop for buses or rides to settlements in the Rammallah area, when a black Fiat Uno, traveling at a high speed, crashed into the shelter.
The injured were taken to hospitals in Jerusalem, where they were treated for mostly light and moderate injuries.
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