Israeli firefighters, security and rescue forces stand next to a burning bus and car that were hit by a rocket fired from Gaza towards Holon, Israel May 11, 2021. REUTERS/Gidon Markovitz.

JNS.org – A bus was torched in eastern Jerusalem on Tuesday after its driver accidentally entered the scene of a confrontation between Israeli security forces and Arab rioters in the city’s Issawiya neighborhood.

According to media reports, a group of young Arabs were throwing fireworks and stones at security forces when the private bus took a wrong turn and was set aflame, apparently by a firebomb.

اللحظات الأولى بعد إحراق حافلة مستوطنين داخل قرية العيساوية في القدس. pic.twitter.com/3DgaBe7wi3

— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) May 9, 2023

The driver, 72, escaped the scene and was treated for smoke inhalation by a Magen David Adom medical team before being transported to Hadassah Hospital on Mount Scopus.

“When we arrived at the gas station, we saw the bus on fire a few tens of meters away from us. The driver told us that he accidentally entered the neighborhood and when they recognized him he was attacked and managed to escape to the nearby gas station. He suffered from mild smoke inhalation and after initial medical treatment with oxygen, he was taken to a hospital in stable condition for further treatment,” MDA emergency medic Shalom Barhoum said.

This attack followed a tense day in Israel after the early-morning assassinations in Gaza of three top Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists. It also came a day after Israeli police thwarted a terror attack in Jerusalem’s Old City, arresting a Palestinian suspect in his 20s.

According to police, the man was acting suspiciously and caught the attention of security forces, who detained him.

He was found to be in possession of sharpened scissors, and was transferred to authorities for further questioning.