The Palestinian driver who struck three Israel Defence Forces soldiers in the West Bank Wednesday night probably did so in a road accident, not as a terror attack believed by the Israeli authorities, a security official said Thursday.
"Initial investigation of the Palestinian youth who turned himself in today, suggests the incident was a hit-and-run accident and not a vehicular terror attack," the official told Xinhua.
A van driven by 23-year-old Hamam Masalmeh hit a group of Israeli soldiers outside el-Arub, a Palestinian refugee camp between Bethlehem and Hebron, late Wednesday. Three soldiers were injured, one of whom severely.
Masalmeh turned himself in to the Etzion District Coordinating Office Thursday, after an all-night manhunt by the Israeli army and Israel's Security Services.
Israel Times reported that during the investigation, Mesalmeh said he lost control of the van and panicked when he realised he had hit Israeli soldiers and fled the scene.
The incident came at time of mounting tensions between Jews and Arab, and a few hours after an east Jerusalem Palestinian rammed his van into pedestrians, killing one Border Police officer and injuring 13 others before being shot dead by Israeli police.
Tensions have been soaring in Jerusalem since July, when 16-year-old Mohammed Abu Khedir was kidnapped and burned alive by Jewish extremists. Clashes have emerged on a daily basis in the city between Palestinian youths and police, with some protests spilling over to other West Bank cities including Kalandia and Hebron.