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Unrest after Jerusalem 'car terror attack'

Palestinians have clashed with Israeli police overnight after a Palestinian man drove his car into pedestrians in Jerusalem, killing a baby.

The scene of the car crash.
A Palestinian has rammed a car into pedestrians in Jerusalem, killing a baby and injuring others. (AAP)

Palestinian youths have clashed with Israeli police in East Jerusalem, continuing protests that erupted after a Palestinian man rammed his car into a group of pedestrians and was shot by Israeli police.

The crash, characterised as an intentional attack, killed a three-month-old Jewish baby who was a US citizen, and left six people injured.

Children huddled inside an inner room of a kindergarten in a small Jewish settlement in the Ras al-Amud neighbourhood on Thursday, as masked protesters hurled rocks and firecrackers and police fired stun grenades in return.

Dozens also clashed with reinforced police forces in the East Jerusalem areas of Isawiya and Silwan on Thursday morning and Wednesday night, police said.

The 20-year-old driver in the crash, Abd al-Rahman al-Shaludi, died of critical wounds overnight at the Shaare Zedek hospital, spokeswoman Shoham Ruvio confirmed.

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Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said it was likely that the incident was a terrorist attack, and confirmed that the baby and her parents were US citizens.

An uncle said the parents had come from America to study in a Jerusalem yeshiva (religious seminary).

Footage from security cameras showed the car driving out of its lane into a light railway area off limits for other motorised traffic and at full speed running over the passengers waiting at the rail stop.

Al-Shaludi had served time in an Israeli jail for security-related charges, police said.

Palestinian witnesses were quoted by the Palestinian Ma'an news agency as saying that he lost control of the vehicle and was shot in the back by an officer after the accident.

But Jewish eyewitnesses said he rammed into the pedestrians on purpose.

"The car waited for many people to gather and get off the train. Then the car sped up," Shimshon Halperin, the grandfather of the three-month-old killed, told reporters.


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