For the second time in as many weeks, a Palestinian man ploughed into a crowded light railway station in Jerusalem on Wednesday, this time killing one and injuring 13.

Israeli police identified the terrorist as Ibrahim al-Akari, a 38-year-old father of five from the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Shuafat. He had Israeli residency and ties to Hamas, according to police.

He was shot dead by security forces after driving his vehicle into several cars near the station, and attacking civilians and police officers with a crowbar.

A border policeman from a Druze town in the Galilee was killed; two of the injured remained in critical condition and on life support as of Wednesday night.

The incident resembled a similar attack on October 22, when an East Jerusalem Palestinian man swerved off the same road, killing a three-month-old girl and a young woman from Ecuador.

Because widespread arrests have curbed Hamas activity in the West Bank, says Dr Shaul Bartal, a Middle Eastern Studies professor from Bar Ilan University, Jerusalem has become the site of "a mini-intifada" over the past four months.

"We saw these kinds of motorist terror attacks in 2008, and now the trend is coming back in Jerusalem. With all the Israeli security, it's very hard to find a weapon or to place a bomb, but anyone who wants revenge can drive his car into a group of people."

Hamas took responsibility for the attack.

These events have added to simmering turmoil between Jews and Muslims over the status of the holy site known by Jews as the Temple Mount, and by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary. On Wednesday, police dispersed riots in the Old City in which dozens of Palestinians threw rocks and fire crackers.