Israeli air strike kills Palestinian mother and daughter (2)

An Israeli air strike killed a Palestinian mother and daughter in the Gaza Strip yesterday and police, confronting a surge of stabbing attacks in Israel, said they foiled an attempt to drive a car bomb into Jerusalem.

Palestinians disputed the police account, saying an electrical fire in the vehicle was mistaken for an explosion.

Four Israelis and 23 Palestinians have died in 12 days of bloodshed fuelled in part by Muslim anger over increasing Jewish access to the al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem.

Violence has spread from the holy city and the Israeli-occupied West Bank to Israel’s interior and Hamas-ruled Gaza.

An Arab Israeli stabbed four people near a bus stop in northern Israel last night as security forces confronted a spate of attacks against Israelis, mainly by Palestinians, in the Jewish state and the West Bank.

Israel’s cabinet unanimously approved imposing minimum four-year jail terms on Palestinian petrol bombers and rock throwers and issuing harsher fines as an emergency measure, Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement: “We are doing this as a temporary emergency measure so that we can examine the implementation, and if there will be a need, we will make the law even harsher.”

Stabbing attack

The stabbing attack near the town of Hadera in northern Israel occurred in the evening. Police said the Arab Israeli rammed a bus stop with his car, hitting one person, and then got out and stabbed the same person and three others.

Police said the attacker came from the Arab town of Umm el-Fahm, about a 15-minute drive from the scene.

All four injured were taken to hospital and a police commander said a female soldier was in a serious state, while the others were lightly injured.

Meanwhile, Palestinian medical officials said a 13-year-old boy was killed after being hit in the head by a plastic-coated metal bullet and 36 Palestinian protesters were injured in clashes in the West Bank yesterday with Israeli troops who were also firing live rounds.

With Mr Netanyahu cautioning Israelis there would be no “quick fix”, there was no sign of any moves to turn away from conflict that has raised fears of a third Palestinian uprising.

Rocket attacks

Responding to cross-border rocket attacks, Israel said its aircraft targeted a Hamas facility in the Gaza Strip.

Palestinian medical officials said a pregnant woman and her three-year-old daughter living nearby were killed.

On a West Bank road leading to Jerusalem, police pulled over a car driven by a Palestinian woman who they said shouted “God is great” and detonated an explosive when an officer approached.

The woman suffered burns to 40 per cent of her body, Jerusalem’s Hadassah hospital said, and the officer was also hurt.

Rafi Cohen, a police commander, described the vehicle as a car bomb and said “the woman terrorist who drove the vehicle intended to reach Jerusalem”.

An Israeli security source said gas canisters were found in the car.

A source in the Palestinian security services said there had been “a malfunction in her car, and there was no bombing”.

The source did not say how that information was gleaned.

– (Reuters)