Bullets hit police cruiser in West Bank

Shots were fired late Thursday night at a police car traveling on Route 465 in the Benjamin Region north of Ramallah in the West Bank.

The policemen in the car heard shots being fired, and when they stopped to investigate, noticed that their car had been struck, news site NRG reported.

There were no injuries in the incident.

Security forces opened a search for the shooter.

The incident comes amidst heightened tensions in Jerusalem. Dozens of right-wing Jewish activists marched toward the Old City in Jerusalem on Thursday evening, as heavy clashes persisted between police and Arab residents of East Jerusalem.

The worst violence was concentrated in the Shuafat refugee camp, where around 200 Arab youths hurled rocks and firecrackers at the security forces, who responded with tear gas, percussion grenades and rubber bullets, an AFP correspondent said.

Police said that there were no damages or injuries in the incident, and two youths were later arrested for rock-throwing.

Channel 2 aired footage of Palestinian protesters throwing firebombs at a police pillbox in Shuafat, and reported that some 2,000 additional police reinforcements will be deployed in the capital on Friday.

A Hamas man who killed an Israeli and injured 14 more in a terrorist attack on Wednesday came from the Shuafat camp.

Additional clashes were reported by police in the Jabel Mukaber neighborhood.

Earlier Thursday, police closed off access to cars into the Abu Tor neighborhood, after stone-throwing Palestinians damaged six cars and a bus. There were no injuries reported in that attack, and police said they were searching for the culprits.

Meanwhile, around 100 Jewish protesters gathered near the Old City on Thursday night for a march “to the gates of the Temple Mount.”

The sensitive site, holy to both Judaism and Islam, has been the source of tension in past days, following the attempted killing of Temple Mount activist Yehudah Glick, and a call from right-wing MKs to alter the status quo of the Temple Mount.

Jerusalem remained on high alert Thursday after a terror attack on a light rail train stop the previous day left a Border Policeman dead and a dozen other people injured.

East Jerusalem resident Ibrahim al-Akary, 48, drove his van into a group of pedestrians. Akary, who lived in Shuafat, was shot by police when he emerged from the vehicle and attacked passersby with a metal bar.

Six people remain hospitalized from that attack; one in critical condition, three with serious injuries and two with moderate-to-light injuries.

It was the second such attack on the light rail in the past two weeks.

AFP and Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.