Three soldiers lightly wounded in West Bank operation

Mahmoud Abbas spoke as a new poll shows widespread Palestinian support for the attacks.

A Palestinian man died Monday after ramming his vehicle into pedestrians at a crowded bus stop at the western entrance to Jerusalem, wounding nine, according to Israeli police.

On Wednesday at dawn, the Israeli occupation forces invaded Qalandia refugee camp, north of occupied Jerusalem, shot and killed two Palestinians and wounded at least four others.

Mr Abbas has previously refrained from either endorsing or condemning the attacks, often referring to the wave of violence as understandable but not in the best interests of the Palestinian people.

But he also said that proofs were still lacking nearly five months after the attack in the West Bank village of Duma and recent arrests of suspects.

Israel’s defence minister said Tuesday there was still not enough evidence to try the Jewish extremists who firebombed a Palestinian home in July, killing a toddler and both his parents.

Meanwhile, Israeli warplanes hit bases of Hamas in the Gaza Strip overnight, following an alleged Palestinian rocket attack on Israel that caused no injuries, the Israeli army said on Monday.

The spokesperson also warned that punitive demolitions of Palestinian houses and the withholding of bodies of alleged attackers from their families can only aggravate the situation.

“The armed militants in refugee camps, including Fatah [Abbas’s party] have not moved so far, but a change in behaviour of Israeli forces, the loss of legitimacy of leaders and a process of demoralisation within Palestinian security forces could lead to more attacks”, Shikaki explained.

Rights group Defense for Children International-Palestine found in July that in the first half of 2014, “86 percent of Palestinian children experienced some form of physical violence during their arrest or interrogation”. A similar figure supported his resignation in a poll released three months ago. He stated the city would erect protecting barriers near bus stations on the city’s main traffic arteries.

Barkat praised the “immediate alertness” of bystanders who averted “a grave tragedy”.