Attacks against Israelis and clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces have continued today amid heightened tensions across Israel. A spate of terror attacks have rocked Jerusalem and the rest of Israel over the past two weeks.
This morning, a Palestinian man attempted to stab a police officer and was shot and killed in Jerusalem’s Old City. The incident occurred near the Lions’ Gate entrance to the Old City, the site of two previous stabbing attacks, including one that left two people dead over a week ago.
A police spokesperson said the attacker, an Arab man, approached the area from a cemetery to the north and was asked to take his hands out of his pockets by police. The man then took a knife out of his pocket and tried to stab a police officer.
Less than an hour later, an 18-year-old Palestinian woman stabbed a border police officer outside the national police headquarters adjacent to Ammunition Hill on Road 60. The woman was approached by the officer, who said she acted suspiciously. When he was close, she turned around and stabbed him with a knife she held in her hand. The officer then shot the assailant. She was evacuated to Hadassah Hospital on Mount Scopus with moderate injuries.
Two Israelis, including a 13-year-old body riding his bicycle, were gravely injured in a stabbing attack in Jerusalem this afternoon – the third attack to hit the capital in a single day. The attack took place in the northern neighborhood of Pisgat Ze’ev, adjacent to a tram station.
The 13-year-old victim is said to to be in critical condition. Doctors at the Hadassah Hospital Mount Scopus said he suffered multiple stab wounds to his upper body, and he was undergoing emergency surgery in hopes of stabilising his condition.
The second victim, aged 25, suffered two stab wounds to his upper body and is said to be in stable yet serious condition.
According to police, two young Arab assailants stabbed the 13-year-old boy who was riding his bike. When eyewitnesses began to run toward the scene of the attack, the two assailants, reportedly aged 13 or 14 fled. While escaping, one was hit by a car and seriously injured. Eyewitnesses have described the terrorists as brandishing “machetes”.
Police have increased security in the Old City and the Lions’ Gate area in the wake of the attacks, boosting the presence of police officers and installing metal detectors.
