Four killed after lorry driver rams Israeli soldiers
Israeli police investigates the scene of an attack in Jerusalem Sunday, Jan. 8, 2017. A Palestinian rammed his truck into a group of Israeli soldiers in Jerusalem on Sunday, killing four people and wounding 15 others, Israeli police and rescue services said, in one of the deadliest attacks of a more than yearlong campaign of violence. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Israeli soldiers huddle near the site where a Palestinian rammed a truck into a group of Israeli soldiers visiting a popular attraction in Jerusalem on January 8, 2017. Chaos broke out at the scene when the truck ploughed through the crowd, with hundreds of soldiers having arrived there as part of a tour for troops about the history of Jerusalem. / AFP PHOTO / MENAHEM KAHANAMENAHEM KAHANA/AFP/Getty Images
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) and Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman (L) inspect the site of a vehicle-ramming attack in Jerusalem on January 8, 2017. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a Palestinian who rammed a truck into a group of soldiers on Sunday and killed four of them was a supporter of the Islamic State group. / AFP PHOTO / - / MENAHEM KAHANAMENAHEM KAHANA/AFP/Getty Images
Israeli security forces and emergency personnel gather at the site of a vehicle-ramming attack in Jerusalem on January 8, 2017. A truck ploughed into a group of soldiers in Jerusalem in what police said was a "possible terrorist attack" in which at least four were killed and a number of people injured. / AFP PHOTO / AHMAD GHARABLIAHMAD GHARABLI/AFP/Getty Images
The incident took place in Jerusalem
A Palestinian has rammed his truck into a group of Israeli soldiers in Jerusalem, killing four and wounding 15 others.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the driver was a supporter of the Islamic State group, and suggested the attack was inspired by similar assaults in Europe.
"We know the identity of the attacker. According to all the signs, he was a supporter of the Islamic State," he said at the attack site. "We know that there is a sequence of terror attacks. There definitely could be a connection between them, from France to Berlin and now Jerusalem."
Security camera footage shown on Israeli Channel 2 TV showed the lorry driving at high speed off the road and into the crowd of people in the Armon Hanatziv neighbourhood.
The truck is seen reversing quickly, apparently trying to crush more people, before the driver was shot dead.
"There was no sense in that reverse," Leah Schreiber, a witness, told reporters. "He drove backward to crush more people. That was really clear."
While Israel has arrested several Palestinians accused of travelling to Syria to fight with the group, IS is not known to have a presence in Israel or the Palestinian areas. Israel has said two gunmen who carried out a deadly shooting in Tel Aviv last June were inspired by IS, but not members.
Mr Netanyahu said Israel had blockaded Jabel Mukaber, the nearby Palestinian neighbourhood in east Jerusalem where the attacker lived. He said Israel was planning other steps but did not elaborate.
He said the dead were all soldiers - three women and a man. Israel's national rescue service said one of the 15 wounded was in a serious condition.
The attack matched the deadliest in a more than year-long wave of Palestinian shooting, stabbing and vehicle attacks against Israelis. The two gunmen in last June's attack in Tel Aviv also killed four people, who were eating dinner at a popular tourist spot.
Since September 2015, Palestinian attackers have killed 40 Israelis and two visiting Americans. During that time, 230 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire.
The violence has slowed of late but tensions have been rising since President-elect Donald Trump promised to move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The Palestinians claim Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem as their capital, and have warned that moving the embassy would cross a "red line" and undermine negotiations over one of the most sensitive issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The atmosphere in Israel has also been charged following the manslaughter conviction last week of an Israeli soldier who fatally shot a Palestinian attacker who had already been badly wounded and was lying on the ground.
Eytan Rund, a tour guide who said he shot the attacker on Sunday, said the many soldiers in the area were slow to respond. He said he believed the "hesitation" was connected to last week's verdict.
During the past year and a half of violence, Israel has said most of the Palestinians killed were attackers while the rest died in clashes. The Palestinians and rights groups have accused Israel of using excessive force in some confrontations. Sunday's incident marks the first Israeli deaths in three months.
Israel says the violence is driven by a Palestinian campaign of incitement, while Palestinians say it is the result of nearly 50 years of Israeli occupation and dwindling hopes for an independent state.
The Palestinian Hamas movement, an Islamic militant group that rules Gaza and has killed hundreds of Israelis in attacks over the years, praised the assault but stopped short of taking responsibility.
Hamas spokesman Abdul-Latif Qanou called it a "heroic" act and encouraged other Palestinians to do the same and "escalate the resistance".
He said the attack proves the wave of Palestinian violence has not ended, despite a recent lull. "It may be quiet, it may linger, but it will never end," he said.
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat called on residents to be wary but carry on with their everyday life.
"Unfortunately, there is no limit to the cruelty of terrorists who spare no means in killing Jews and disrupting their way of life," he said. "Those who incite and support terror must pay a heavy price."
