Third ramming attack victim dies, 8-year-old brother of boy who died Friday

A third victim in the Friday afternoon ramming attack has died of his wounds. 

The victim, 8-year-old Asher Menachem Pally, is the older brother of 6-year-old Yaakov Israel Pally, who died at the scene of Friday’s attack.

Asher was taken to Shaare Zedek in Jerusalem in critical condition. On Saturday, he was pronounced dead. 

“The boy arrived in critical condition while being resuscitated, and many teams from the trauma unit, from the ER, pediatric intensive care, pediatric surgery and neurosurgery fought for many hours for his life, but unfortunately they had to declare his death,” a spokesperson from Shaare Zedek said Saturday evening. 

The two boys were buried next to each other in the Givat Shaul cemetery overlooking the entrance to Jerusalem from the west. 

The father of the two boys remains hospitalized in critical condition. 

Following the attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the apartment of the attacker sealed. 

Israel normally seals the homes of terrorist before demolition, however, since the terrorist in Friday’s attacks lived in a rented apartment, the legality of destroying the home is not clear. 

The terrorist was identified as an Arab from the town of Issawiya, on Mt. Scopus in East Jerusalem. 

Israeli media reported on Friday that the terrorist had recently been released from a psychiatric hospital. A family member also confirmed that he was being treated with medication and was recently hospitalized.

Following the terror attack, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said that he wanted to implement “a full lockdown” of Issawiya, but said “there is a legal question about it.”

He also claimed that he had instructed the police commissioner to prepare of Operation Defensive Shield 2, although the national security minister does not have the authority to announce such an extensive operation without the approval of the security cabinet.

Operation Defensive Shield was the name of a large-scale operation carried out by the Israel Defense Forces during the Second Intifada in 2002, aimed at decreasing the number of terror attacks.

After the attack, the Hamas terrorist organization, Al-Aqsa Brigades and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror groups issued statements praising the attack. 

Hazem Kassem, a spokesperson for Hamas, called it a “heroic action in Jerusalem.” 

Al-Aqsa Brigades and Islamic Jihad both said that “operations” would continue until the “occupation” was removed from Jerusalem and the land. 

No organization has taken responsibility for the attack.