Police said the victims included four girls who were sprayed with a corrosive substance by a man who was then shot in the leg by a bystander. The incident took place close to a checkpoint near Beitar Illit, in the southern West Bank.
Paramedics who treated the family – including three children aged between about eight and 10 – said the wounds appeared to be acid burns affecting their limbs.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said the family had stopped to pick up the man, who was hitchhiking. He got into their car and began throwing liquid on the family before attempting to attack the father with a small screwdriver.
As he fled the scene he reportedly attempted to attack other people with the screwdriver while being chased by an armed civilian before he was shot. Police said the attacker had “poured an unknown substance suspected to be acid on a Jewish family”.
Media reports later identified the man as a Palestinian from the village of Nahalin, near Bethlehem.
Separately, police are investigating an incident in which a Palestinian driver crashed into concrete barriers at a hitchhiking post where a number of soldiers were standing. It was unclear whether it was an attempted attack or an accident.
Tensions are high following the death of a Palestinian minister, Ziad Abu Ein, on Wednesday during a confrontation with Israeli security forces at a demonstration near a village outside Ramallah. The Israeli military and police have stepped up their presence in Jerusalem and elsewhere due to fears of more violence.
Palestinian and Israeli pathologists gave different accounts of the cause of Abu Ein’s death. Following a joint autopsy, the Palestinian doctor concluded that he died as a result of a blow to his body, not of natural causes. The Israeli doctor said the 55-year-old’s death was caused by the blockage of a coronary artery.
Friday also saw large clashes between hundreds of Palestinian demonstrators – with some reports claiming they numbered 600 – and Israeli forces in the West Bank city of Hebron.
Over the past four months, 10 Israelis and a foreign visitor have been killed by Palestinians in knife or car-based attacks, while at least a dozen Palestinians have also been killed, including most of those who carried out the killings.
