Israeli police seal up home of Jerusalem attacker’s family

Security personnel have sealed up the family home of a Palestinian man who crashed his car into a Jerusalem bus stop, killing three Israelis and injuring several others, Israeli police said on Sunday.

They released a video showing officers and soldiers welding the doors and windows of the apartment in east Jerusalem shut.

The action came after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the dwelling to be sealed immediately after Friday’s attack. It was the first step ahead of the possible demolition of the apartment.

Three Israelis, including young brothers aged eight and six, were killed when Palestinian driver Hussein Qaraqa careered into a bus stop in the east Jerusalem settlement of Ramot.

Asher and Yaakov Paley’s father was one of five people injured in the incident.

Qaraqa was killed by police at the scene.

Police had arrested and interrogated the 32-year-old’s family almost immediately after he carried out Friday’s deadly attack.

They said a court had extended the detention of his two brothers and that the investigation was continuing.

Qaraqa’s family said he had been diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder and had been released from a hospital just two days before the incident.

Israel says demolishing Palestinian attackers’ homes serves as a deterrent meant to prevent future attacks. But human rights groups say the practice amounts to collective punishment and leaves relatives who had nothing to do with the attack homeless.

Israel claims all of Jerusalem as its undivided capital, while the Palestinians seek east Jerusalem, captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war, as capital of a future state.