December 14, 2015•Update: December 14, 2015
JERUSALEM
A Palestinian man was killed by Israeli security forces on Monday in Jerusalem after allegedly ramming a car into a group of pedestrians, injuring 11 people.
The alleged Palestinian attacker was shot dead after ramming his car into a bus stop near an entrance to the city, Israeli military spokesman Peter Lerner tweeted.
Lerner also tweeted a photo of a small axe that police allegedly found in the slain man's car.
According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, at least 122 Palestinians have been killed since Oct. 1, either after being shot during alleged attacks on Israelis or in clashes with Israeli forces.
Another 22 Israelis or foreigners have been killed over the same period.
Some observers say the recent uptick in violence -- which some have called a third Palestinian "intifada" ("uprising") -- was initially prompted by a July arson attack in the West Bank by suspected Jewish settlers that killed an 18-month-old Palestinian child and his parents.
Since then, Palestinians have been further angered by a raft of draconian security measures recently adopted by the Israeli authorities.
These include the demolition of the homes of alleged Palestinian attackers; the detention of Palestinian minors for throwing stones; and a refusal by the Israeli authorities to return the bodies of slain Palestinians to their families.
Although the violence was initially confined to East Jerusalem, most of the Palestinian deaths since late October have occurred in the occupied West Bank.
The deeply-divided West Bank city of Hebron has been particularly hard-hit by the recent violence.
Israel accuses Palestinian groups -- especially Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, which respectively govern the blockaded Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank -- of inciting attacks on Israelis.
Recent Palestinian attacks on Israelis have allegedly been carried out by young people -- many of whom have used improvised weapons, such as kitchen knives or vehicles -- rather than organized resistance groups.
