On 22 October 2014, a Palestinian rammed his car into a crowd of people waiting at the Ammunition Hill light rail station in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in East Jerusalem.[1][2] The attack killed a three-month-old girl and a 22-year-old Ecuadorian potential convert to Judaism, and injured seven others.[3][4][5] Police shot the driver of the vehicle as he fled the scene and he later died of his wounds.[6]
Attack
A 21-year-old, Adbel-Rahman Shaloudi, from Silwan, is believed to have deliberately driven his father's car at high speed into the crowd waiting at a Jerusalem light rail station. Israel identified him as a Hamas member,[7] and police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld stated that, "this was a terrorist attack. The driver ... is a resident of Silwan and has a terrorist background. He has served time in jail for terror activity."[8] The driver was shot dead as he attempted to flee the scene.[9][10]
The attack is one in a series of violent Palestinian attacks on civilians in the summer and fall of 2014 being described by some as a new intifada.[11][12]
Family members of Adbel-Rahman Shaloudi believe that he had lost control of the car and the killing was not intentional.[13][14] Ynet speculates, after conversations with his family, that his act was precipitated after hearing a false rumour on an Arabic-language radio station that Israeli police had entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque with their shoes not to arrest stone-throwers but in order to desecrate the shrine.[15] On 14 November the order was given to demolish Shaloudi's home,[16] and it was destroyed on 19 November,[17] although pictures show that only his room, and not the whole house, was destroyed.[18]
Victims
Chaya Zissel Braun was a 3-month-old, who held both American and Israeli citizenship.[19] As her mother was exiting the train, the stroller was hit directly by the car, killing her instantly.[20][21]
Karen Yemima Mosquera was a 22-year-old, a recent immigrant from Ecuador, who had come to Israel to explore Judaism, for a future conversion.[22] She was critically injured during the attack and later died on 26 October.[23][24][25][26] Her mother and sister traveled to Jerusalem to be with her in the hospital, her father joined them for the funeral.[27][28]
