February 10, 2023: Hussein Khaled Qaraqe’, 31, from Al-Isawiya town in Jerusalem, was shot and killed by multiple Israeli gunmen after his vehicle ran off the road and struck a crowded bus stop of Israelis, killing a six-year old child and a 20-year old man, and wounding several others.
According to an eyewitness, Hussein, who was driving the car, tried to indicate to the Israelis around the crashed car, many of whom were armed, that it was an accident and not to shoot him. But after a rock was thrown at the car, and the driver moved, he was shot by multiple shooters and killed.
The Israelis who were killed in this incident have been identified as six-year old Yaakov Paley, from Ramot, and Alter Shlomo Liderman, 20, from Jerusalem.
Yaakov’s funeral was held on Friday afternoon, with family members in attendance.and was restricted to family members and neighbors. Alter was a newlywed, who was married four months earlier.
Yaakov’s brother Asher Menachem Paley, 8, who was critically injured in the attack succumbed to his wounds, Saturday, February 11.
One eyewitness told the Israeli paper Ha’aretz that at first, it appeared to be an accident when the vehicle ran off the road and onto the crowded bus stop.
Another eyewitness told reporters, “For about a minute, several people with guns stood around the vehicle and pointed at the driver, but did not shoot. The driver made a sign with his hands as if to say ‘no,’ and everyone held their fire. At some point, someone threw a large stone at the vehicle, the attacker moved, and everyone fired at him.”
The driver of the vehicle, a 31-year Palestinian construction worker and father of three, had been injured six months before in a construction accident. He had been renting an apartment in Jerusalem to be able to get to job sites without having to cross from his hometown in al-Isawiya each day and potentially get stopped at a checkpoint and unable to make it to work.
Following the incident, which was either an accident or a so-called ‘lone wolf’ attack, Israeli security officials met to discuss the punishment they are planning for the besieged Palestinian population living under Israeli martial law in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and Gaza Strip.
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir stated that he had given an order for Israeli police to establish checkpoints throughout the East Jerusalem neighborhood of al-Isawiya “and to stop everyone one by one, and just check each vehicle.”
These types of checkpoints, particularly on Friday afternoon, wreak havoc on the commutes of thousands of workers, teachers and students trying to get home.
Israeli troops invaded the home of the Palestinian driver Hussein Khaled Qaraqe’ and dragged out his wife, father and two brothers, in front of the three young children. The soldiers took them to a military base for so-called ‘enhanced interrogation’.
In at-Tour village, where other relatives of the deceased Khaled Qaraqe’ reside, Israeli troops invaded and abducted an additional six family members.
According to the Jerusalem Post, two children were listed as critically injured in the attack, two adults were seriously injured, and two suffered moderate wounds before the child, a six-year-old boy, and the young man succumbed to their wounds.
Israeli Ynet News said soldiers and police officers were searching for “other potential suspects,” adding that they entered a synagogue with their guns drawn during the search.
Also Friday, an Israeli colonizer rammed a Palestinian with his car in the Qalqas area, south of Hebron city, in the southern part of the West Bank. Medical sources said the Palestinian, Sufian Mohammad Al-Jo’ba, 38, suffered a fracture in his arm and was moved to a hospital in the city.
Hussein was from Al-Isawiya town in Jerusalem. Source: IMEMC, Times Of Israel