Police have arrested a 25-year-old eastern Jerusalem resident in connection with the vehicular assault in Jerusalem early on Thursday that left 12 Israeli soldiers wounded, one seriously.
Sanad al-Turman was taken into custody on Thursday evening at the Gush Etzion Junction.
The suspect’s brother denied that al-Turman, who has no previous record of terrorist activity, had any intention to hurt anyone. “He caused an accident, got scared and fled. He didn’t mean for it to happen,” the brother told the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court on Friday, before the court decided to extend al-Turman’s custody by 10 days.
“He is a smart and good man, attending college,” the brother continued. “I am sure this is not a terrorist attack. I handed my brother over to the security forces, he was not apprehended.”
Israeli security forces have denied the brother’s claim, citing several Facebook posts that appear to signal al-Turman’s intent.
In one Facebook post, al-Turman wrote, “I’ve found my answers,” and in another, “Whoever seeks peace with the enemy is living under an illusion. Never surrender.”
In the second of three Jerusalem terrorist attacks on Thursday, an Israeli Border Police officer was lightly wounded in a shooting near the Old City. The assailant, identified by Israeli media as 45-year-old Haifa resident Shadi Beda, who had recently converted from Christianity to Islam, was killed by police at the scene.
Police released Beda’s body on Sunday, with a burial expected to take place in a Muslim Cemetery in Haifa, according to Ha’aretz.
Also on Thursday, an Israeli soldier was lightly wounded in a drive-by shooting along a highway in central Judea and Samaria, southeast of Qalqilya. The attack was the third against Israeli security forces within 24 hours. The soldier, whose head was grazed by a bullet, was taken to the Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer in Ramat Gan for treatment.
The IDF posted on its official Twitter account Thursday that troops at the scene had returned fire at the suspect, and that a manhunt was currently underway.