JERUSALEM — A Palestinian driver rammed a van into several pedestrians in Jerusalem, killing a policeman, hours after clashes at the city’s holiest site.

At least 13 people were injured in the attack on Wednesday. The driver was shot dead.

Hamas militants said they carried out the attack. Israel’s prime minister said it was a result of “incitement” by the Palestinian Authority and Hamas.

A similar car attack by a Palestinian took place in the same area two weeks ago which left a woman and a baby dead.

In a separate development on Wednesday, a Palestinian motorist drove into a group of soldiers in the southern West Bank, injuring three of them before fleeing the scene.

Israeli soldiers later found the car abandoned, according to witnesses at a nearby Palestinian refugee camp.

The driver turned himself in to security forces on Thursday morning, the Israeli army reported.

It is also common for Israeli settlers to target Palestinian with their cars in the West Bank. 

Meanwhile Jordan has recalled its ambassador to Israel over what it called the “unprecedented Israeli escalation” at holy and sensitive sites in Jerusalem.

As tensions have risen in the city, access to the Temple Mount/al-Haram al-Sharif compound has been intermittently restricted, with police at times barring male Muslim worshippers under the age of 50 from entering the site as a security measure.

The compound is known to Jews as the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism, and to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif. It contains the al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site in Islam.

The man killed in Wednesday’s van attack was police Chief Inspector Jidaan Asad, 38, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.