Israeli police storm home of Tel Aviv car-ramming suspect, interrogate family

Israeli police have stormed the family home of Yusuf Abu Jaber, the alleged perpetrator of Friday’s car-ramming in Tel Aviv, while family sources say the Palestinian father of five could not have conducted the attack. 

Abu Jaber, a 45-year-old resident of Kafr Qasim, was shot dead by Israeli police after one person was killed and five others injured in the attack, which took place in the centre of the coastal Israeli city on Friday.

Huge numbers of Israeli police broke into the family home in the middle of the night, according to Palestinians living nearby, wreaking havoc with the family’s possessions and interrogating the family members. 

"The family cannot believe that Yusuf would do something like this, and will not accept that it was an intentional attack," a source close to the family told Arab48. 

Abu Jaber had five daughters and was a "model father" well known for his moral fibre, according to the source.

Three people, including a 17-year-old, were moderately wounded, while two suffered minor injuries, according to the Israeli ambulance service.

Police claim  Abu Jaber was also armed at the time of the attack - but unlike in previous car-ramming incidents, they have not released pictures of the perpetrator’s weapon, or made statements concerning the Palestinian’s political affiliation. 

Kafr Qasim, Abu Jaber’s hometown, is the site of a notorious 1956 massacre by Israeli police in which 49 Palestinians were killed. The perpetrators received an official pardon after being found guilty of the massacre.

Israeli aggression towards Palestinians has been exceptionally brutal this week, and included a police storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem that injured hundreds of worshippers as well as Israel bombardment of both Gaza and Lebanon.

Israel's army said it had launched a manhunt for the perpetrators of a shooting in the occupied West Bank on Friday that killed three people.

From Jericho to Nablus, a huge surge in Israeli army presence has seen the ground the West Bank to a halt as checkpoints perform exhaustive searches of all vehicles.