Two Jerusalem Attacks Raise Fears of Gaza Fighting Spillover
By Calev Ben-David Aug 4, 2014 11:28 AM ET
Two separate attacks in Jerusalem today raised concerns that the four-week war in Gaza may be sparking violence inside Israel.
The driver of a construction excavator was shot dead by police after he rammed his vehicle into a bus, overturning it and killing one passenger. Just over an hour later, a man was shot in the stomach near the city’s Hebrew University by an assailant on a motorbike, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat told Israel Radio the man who was shot was a soldier. Road blocks were set up in the area.
The violence in a city that had been largely calm since fighting between Israel and Hamas militants escalated on July 8 came after Israel’s military called a seven-hour humanitarian truce in some parts of Gaza while continuing to strike targets elsewhere in the territory. The partial cease-fire ended at 5 p.m. local time.
The Gaza offensive, which Israel says is intended to quash rocket salvoes fired by militants and destroy cross-border tunnels used to stage attacks, has been the deadliest in the territory since Israeli settlers and soldiers left in 2005. More than 1,800 Palestinians have been killed, including hundreds of civilians, according to Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qedra. Sixty-seven people have been killed on the Israeli side, 64 of them soldiers.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-04/two-jerusalem-attacks-raise-fears-of-gaza-fighting-spillover.html
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