Jerusalem - XINHUA
An Israeli soldier was shot and seriously injured on Monday in a suspected nationalistic-motivated attack in Israel's Jerusalem, local police told Xinhua.
A man riding on a motorcycle opened fire at the soldier sitting at a hitchhiking station near the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's Mount Scopus Campus, police spokesperson Mickey Rosenfeld said.
The 20-year-old soldier has been sent to a hospital in serious condition and the police forces are scanning the city for the perpetrator of the attack.
Earlier in the day, a man ran a tractor into a bus and a car in Jerusalem also in a suspected nationalist attack, killing a pedestrian and wounding five others, the Israeli police said, adding that the driver was killed on the spot by security forces.
"We feared that such an incident might happen due to the elevated tensions," Jerusalem District Police Chief Commander Yossi Pariente told reporters, amid the rising tensions over Israel's offensive on Gaza.
The attack came as an Israeli offensive on Gaza entered the 28th day, which has so far claimed the lives of at least 1,820 Palestinians, the vast majority of them civilians, according to Palestinian health officials.
Following a security cabinet meeting on Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the operation in Gaza "is continuing."
Israel's operation in Gaza also triggered protests in east Jerusalem and the West Bank. Two Palestinians were killed over the weekend in the clashes with Israeli security forces.