Palestinian attacker stabs 2 in Jerusalem in latest violence

Israeli police officers patrol near the site of a stabbing attack in Afula, northern Israel, Thursday, Oct. 8. After attacks in Jerusalem and the West Bank left two Israelis seriously wounded on Thursday, the violence spread deeper into Israel when police said an Arab attacker stabbed and moderately wounded an Israeli soldier in Afula. AP

JERUSALEM—A Palestinian teenager stabbed two Israelis in Jerusalem Saturday before being shot dead by police forces, the latest in a series of stabbing attacks against civilians and soldiers that have spread across Israel and the West Bank in the past week.

Police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld said the two Israelis were walking from the Old City of Jerusalem toward the city center when they were stabbed by a 16-year-old Arab. Police forces on site noticed the men bleeding from stab wounds in their upper body and then the knife-wielding Palestinian running in their direction and opened fire. The attacker was killed. The two victims were lightly wounded and evacuated to hospital.

The wave of attacks started in Jerusalem over what Israel says are unfounded Palestinian rumors that Israel was expanding its presence at a sensitive holy site sacred to both Muslims And Jews. They have since spread to the rest on the country. On Friday, for the first time since the current violence began, clashes broke out along the Gaza border. Palestinians there burned tires and threw rocks at Israeli troops on the frontier. Seven Palestinians were killed.

The violence continued overnight in Jerusalem. Rosenfeld said police forces in an Arab east Jerusalem neighborhood came under attack and responded with gunfire, hitting a 25-year-old attacker. Health officials later confirmed the man had died of his wounds.

Recent days have seen a series of attacks by young Palestinians wielding household items like kitchen knives, screwdrivers and even a vegetable peeler. The youths had no known links to armed groups and have targeted Israeli soldiers and civilians at random, complicating security efforts to predict or prevent the attacks.

The violence, including the first apparent revenge attack by an Israeli Friday and increasing protests by Israel’s own Arab minority, has raised fears of the unrest spiraling further out of control. The unpredictability and brutality of the assaults, coupled with the young age of some of the attackers, have shocked Israelis and raised fears that a new Palestinian intifada—or uprising—could be underway.