Benjamin Netanyahu blames Islamic State for Jerusalem attack

Israel's Prime Minister has said yesterday's attack in Jerusalem, in which four Israeli cadets died, has all the signs of an Islamic State operation.

Benjamin Netanyahu said that "according to all the signs, [the attacker] was a supporter of the Islamic State", but he did not offer any further details. No claim of responsibility has yet been made.

He added: "This is part of the same pattern inspired by Islamic State, by Isis, that we saw first in France, then in Germany and now in Jerusalem."

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Three women and one man were killed and a dozen people injured when a Palestinian deliberately drove a truck into a large group of Israeli soldiers visiting a vewpoint overlooking Jerusalem's Old City. The attacker was shot dead.

National police chief Roni Alseich said it was possible the driver had been motivated by last month's lorry attack in Berlin.

He said: "It is difficult to get into the head of every individual to determine what prompted him, but there is no doubt that these things do have an effect."

Palestinian media say the attacker was Fadi al-Qanbar, a married man in his 20s who had reportedly served time in an Israeli prison.

Militant group Hamas called it a "heroic" act and encouraged other Palestinians to "escalate the resistance".

Sunday's incident brings to 39 the total number of Israelis killed in knife, gun and car-ramming attacks by Palestinians or Israeli Arabs since October 2015. In the same time, more than 230 Palestinians have died in violence.

The number of attacks had begun to subside, says the BBC's Yolande Knell, but yesterday's incident is one of the most serious in years.

Israel says Palestinian incitement has fuelled the attacks, but "the Palestinian leadership has blamed frustration rooted in decades of Israeli occupation", says the BBC.