AKIPRESS.COM - Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu has accused the Palestinian president of incitement, after an attack which killed a baby in Jerusalem.

Mr Netanyahu said Mahmoud Abbas had provided encouragement for incidents such as the killing of the three-month-old by a Palestinian driver.

The man drove his car into a crowd at a tram stop, injuring eight others. He died hours after being shot by police, reports BBC.

A spokesman said the incident was being treated as a "terrorist attack".

"The driver... is a resident of [the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of] Silwan and has a terrorist background. He served time in jail for terror activity," Micky Rosenfeld was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying.

The driver was identified as 21-year-old Adbel-Rahman Shaloudi, who was shot as he tried to flee the scene on foot.

Shaloudi was the nephew of a leading bomb-maker from Hamas, the Islamist militant group opposed to Israel, who was killed in the West Bank in 1988.

Israel's Channel 2 television said Hamas had claimed responsibility for the Jerusalem attack, although the group has not issued an official statement.