Jerusalem: Victim of Palestinian van attack dies

(BBC) - An Israeli seriously wounded when a Palestinian driver attacked pedestrians in Jerusalem on Wednesday has died.

Another person was also killed and eight were injured when the man rammed his car into people at a tram stop.

He hit police officers with an iron bar before being shot dead. Militants Hamas said they carried out the attack.

Meanwhile several explosions in Gaza targeted homes and cars of officials from Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement. No-one was hurt.

Fatah official Fayez Abu Eitta said his car was destroyed and the homes of two other officials were damaged in the blasts early on Friday.

A stage to be used for the commemoration next week of the 10th anniversary of the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was also damaged. The event is the first since 2007.

Hamas, which controls Gaza, condemned the attacks, but Fatah spokesman Ahmad Assaf accused the group of carrying them out.

The two factions have been at odds since Hamas reinforced its power in Gaza in 2007 after ousting its Fatah rivals. The groups formed a unity government in April, but it has not been fully implemented on the ground and tensions between the sides remain.

Vehicle attacks

Hamas said it had carried out the Jerusalem attack in revenge for Israel's actions around the al-Aqsa mosque, part of a holy compound.

It was the city's second attack by a Palestinian with a vehicle in a week.

A baby girl and an Ecuadorian woman were killed in the previous attack, carried out by a member of the Islamic Jihad militant group.

The man declared dead on Friday was a 17-year-old student at a Jewish seminary, Israeli army radio reported.

The driver of the van, Ibrahim al-Akari, was from Shuafat refugee camp in the east of the city, police said.