Israel has demolished the home of a Palestinian behind a deadly car attack in Jerusalem, following a bloody assault on a synagogue.
Four rabbis and a policeman were killed on Tuesday after two Palestinians wielding meat cleavers and a pistol launched a rare assault on a place of worship.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed a harsh response to the synagogue assault, which was the bloodiest attack in Jerusalem in years.
"I have ordered the destruction of the homes of the Palestinians who carried out this massacre and to speed up the demolitions of those who carried out previous attacks," Netanyahu said late on Tuesday.
Hours later Israeli forces razed the east Jerusalem apartment of the family of Abdelrahman Shaludi, who deliberately rammed his car into a crowd of pedestrians on October 22, killing a young woman and a baby.
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Shaludi was shot by police as he fled the scene and later died of his wounds.
Israel is struggling to contain a wave of unrest in annexed Arab east Jerusalem that has seen a growing number of deadly attacks by Palestinians.
Israel has used punitive house demolitions for years in the West Bank but the policy was halted in 2005 after the army said they had no proven deterrent effect and was likely to encourage violence.
The family home in the densely populated neighbourhood of Silwan was little more than a shell after the demolition, its inner and outer walls blown out and piles of rubble covering the floor.
The family had moved out ahead of the demolition and were staying with relatives.
"Where can we go now? We have nowhere to live, no home," said Shaludi's teenage sister Nibras.
Aside from the homes of the two Palestinians behind the synagogue attack, three more east Jerusalem apartments are earmarked for demolition in connection with a spate of attacks in the past three months.
The latest wave of violence comes amid heightened tensions in the Holy City, fanned by Palestinian anger over right-wing Jews pressing to overturn a long-standing ban on their praying at the compound that houses the Al-Aqsa mosque and Dome of the Rock.
Palestinians are also angered by Jewish settlers moving into east Jerusalem and either buying up properties, or building new ones.
The Jerusalem municipality on Wednesday said it approved the construction of 78 new homes for settlers in the Har Homa and Ramot neighbourhoods.
