6 wounded in two anti-Palestinians attacks in Israel

Six Palestinians were wounded to varying degrees in two severe attacks on Palestinians in Jerusalem and in the West Bank within one day. On early Friday, dozens of Jewish youths attacked three young Palestinians at Jerusalem's Zion Square, wounding one severely, the Ha'aretz daily reported. Acting Jerusalem Police Chief, Gen. Menachem Yitzhaki, ordered to set up a special task force to investigate the incident and apprehend the suspects that fled the scene. According to eyewitnesses' accounts, the attackers beat the young Arabs while shouting racial slurs. As one of the victims fell to the floor, the attackers went on beating him until he blacked out. One eyewitness wrote on her Facebook page that "Today I saw a lynch with my own eyes in Zion square." "Dozens of youth cursing and beating three Arab youths ..." she said. Rescue workers arrived shortly after to the scene and resuscitated the victim, who did not have a pulse and was not breathing. He was hospitalized at the intensive care unit at Hadassah Ein Karem hospital. This is the second attack within 24 hours perpetrated by Jewish people against Palestinians. On Thursday, a Palestinian taxi in the West Bank was hit by a Molotov cocktail, injuring five Palestinian family members, who suffered moderate to serious wounds. A police officer said that the attack was carried out by Jews and was nationalistically-motivated. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) were scouring the area in search for the assailants whose identity remained unknown. They found another firebomb in the area which was not lit. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the attack and instructed the IDF to act determinately to apprehend those behind the attack. "This is a very serious incident," he said. "We will do everything to catch those responsible and bring them to justice," he added.