Three Palestinians were shot dead Wednesday after they killed an Israeli police officer and wounded another in an armed attack near Damascus Gate in occupied East Jerusalem’s Old City, Israeli police said.

The three Palestinian youths had attracted the attention of Israeli Border Police officers as they approached Damascus Gate, police spokesperson Luba al-Samri said.

She said they were stopped by the officers, and as one showed their identification card, another pulled out a gun and opened fire. Two female Border Police officers were wounded and evacuated for medical treatment.

One of them, 19-year-old Hadar Cohen, was shot in her head and later pronounced dead at Hadassah Hospital.

Explosive devices were later found near the site, which was cordoned off following the attack, Rosenfeld said, adding that Israeli forces carried out a controlled explosion of the devices.

The three Palestinians killed were identified as Ahmad Rajeh Ismail Zakarneh, Muhammad Ahmad Hilmi Kamil, and Najeh Ibrahim Abu al-Rub from the village of Qabatiya near the occupied West Bank city of Jenin.

A Palestinian Authority police officer was shot dead earlier this week after he opened fire on Israeli soldiers stationed at an Israeli military checkpoint near the Beit El settlement north of Ramallah in the West Bank.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon meanwhile last month criticized Israeli policy, saying that it was “human nature” for Palestinians to react violently to Israel’s nearly 50-year military occupation.

Moon condemned the series of violent attacks carried out by Palestinians in recent months, but said that Israeli security measures were failing to “address the profound sense of alienation and despair driving some Palestinians — especially young people.”

(MAAN)