A Palestinian woman stabbed an Israeli Jew in Jerusalem’s Old City on Wednesday, just hours after the lifting of restrictions on Palestinians entering the disputed Al-Aqsa Mosque compound brought in after last week’s fatal attack.
The 18-year-old Palestinian woman attacked the 35-year-old Israeli man with a knife near the Western Wall, close to the site of Saturday’s fatal stabbings which claimed the lives of two Jewish men.
Israeli border guards walk in an alley in the Old City of Jerusalem Photo: AFP/Getty
The injured Israeli man then pulled out a gun and shot the assailant, seriously wounding her, Israeli police told The Telegraph. It was the third knife attack in the city in less than a week.
As clashes continued to spread across Israel and the West Bank, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu cancelled a planned trip to Germany to deal with the ongoing violence in the country.
Earlier this week, German officials voiced fears of a "new Palestinian intifada", urging both sides to condemn the violence and resume peace talks.
In a separate incident just hours later, a Palestinian assailant attacked an IDF soldier on a bus in the southern city of Kiryat Gat, stabbing him with a pair of scissors and grabbing his weapon. He was shot dead by Israeli security forces as he tried to flee.
In the West Bank, Israeli settlers slashed the tires of Palestinian cars in Beit Iksa near Jerusalem, Palestine’s official Wafa news reported. Violent confrontations between Israelis and Palestinians also took place in Bethlehem and Hebron.
Near the Israeli settlement of Tekoa, Palestinian youths threw rocks at approximately seven cars belonging to Israelis. A 38-year-old woman who was injured when her windscreen was smashed said the Palestinian attackers attempted to lynch her from the car, Ynet News reported. A Palestinian teenager was shot and seriously injured in the incident.
On Tuesday evening, Israeli settler leaders were told there will be no additional settlement construction for now in the wake of the attacks.
“We were told that there is an inability to approve and advance construction under current pressures,” council chairman of the settlers’ Yesha Council Avi Roeh told reporters following the meeting.
“Strategically, it’s a serious mistake not to approve construction; it will harm the settlement [project] and in the end cause harm to Jerusalem and the entire state of Israel,” he said.
Unrest even reached the coastal city of Jaffa on Tuesday evening, where demonstrations against the clashes and police crackdown in Jerusalem became violent. Six Israeli policemen were injured.
Jerusalem’s Old City was quiet and tense on Wednesday, as many tourists stayed away, while police presence was high.
