Palestinian demonstrators clash with Israeli security forces following Friday prayers in the West Bank city of Hebron on December 12, 2014. After a senior Palestinian official died in a confrontation with Israeli troops in the West Bank, speculation arose that the Palestinians might cancel security coordination with Israel. AFP
AFP
A Palestinian described as mentally unstable threw acid at a family of Israelis who gave him a ride in the West Bank Friday before being shot and wounded, residents and the army said.
The incident came as tensions run high in the occupied territories after months of unrest, and after the death of a senior Palestinian official in a confrontation with Israeli troops.
"A vehicle carrying a family with four girls picked up a hitchhiker" near a checkpoint outside Bethlehem and close to the Gush Etzion settlement area, an army statement said.
"The hitchhiker threw acid on the passengers, injuring them lightly."
The attacker got out of the vehicle and was shot in the leg by a civilian and arrested. It was unclear how seriously he was wounded.
Israeli public radio said a man and three children were injured in the attack.
The Israelis were taken to hospital, an AFP photographer said, and emergency services confirmed they had suffered light wounds.
Palestinians residents named the attacker as Jamal Ghayyada, 46, from the nearby village of Nahalin, saying he was mentally unstable and had received treatment at a mental health clinic in Bethlehem.
He had been arrested before, they added.
The incident came at a time of high tensions in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank, where a senior Palestinian official died in a confrontation with Israeli troops on Wednesday.
The Palestinian leadership blamed Israel for Ziad Abu Ein's death and has threatened a response, amid speculation the Palestinian Authority would suspend security coordination with Israel in the West Bank.
Elsewhere in the West Bank, several Palestinian protesters were lightly to moderately wounded during clashes with Israeli troops, Palestinian security and medical sources said.
Some 100 Palestinians demonstrated outside the Ofer military prison near Ramallah, and troops shot live bullets at their legs, wounding 10, medics said.
In Hebron, south of Bethlehem, youths clashed with soldiers and were also shot in the legs, one with live rounds and three with rubber bullets.
Israeli ministers called for calm after the death of Abu Ein, and US Secretary of State John Kerry is to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Rome Sunday as part of efforts to defuse tensions.
