Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian man after an attempted stabbing attack at the entrance to Jerusalem on Monday evening, Israeli police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld said.
According to Rosenfeld, the attack happened on an Israeli bus, and an Israeli soldier was lightly wounded before a Palestinian was shot dead on the bus.
Israeli media has reported that the Palestinian was shot and killed after trying and failing to take an Israeli soldier’s gun, before attacking the soldier with a knife. The attack was said to have taken place under the Chords Bridge in northwest Jerusalem.
The Palestinian is the third to be killed by Israeli forces following an alleged stabbing attack in Jerusalem on Monday, following the fourth alleged stabbing attack that day.
Hours before the incident, two Israelis were seriously injured in what was the third reported stabbing attack in Jerusalem, with one Palestinian suspect, reportedly a minor, shot dead at the scene and another wounded, Israeli police said.
Earlier that day, a Palestinian teenager, reportedly a school girl, was shot and seriously injured after she allegedly carried out an attack that injured two Israelis in East Jerusalem near the Israeli police headquarters.
On Monday morning, Israeli forces shot and killed Mustafa Adel al-Khatib, 18, after he allegedly attempted to stab a border police officer.
The latest death brings the total number of Palestinians killed to 27 since the beginning of October.
On Sunday, Israeli forces shot dead a 13-year-old boy during clashes south of al-Bireh in Ramallah district, medics said.
The child, identified as 13-year-old Ahmad Sharaka, was shot in the neck with a live round, medics said. He was also the third 13-year-old to be shot dead by Israeli forces in the same time period.
The Palestinian Authority Ministry of Health said Sunday that Israeli forces have shot more than 1,300 Palestinians with live and rubber-coated bullets since the beginning of this month.
Fierce clashes have kept up unabated since the beginning of the month, prompted by Israeli army and settler reprisals after four Israelis were killed in two separate attacks at the beginning of October.
However, tensions had mounted for weeks, particularly over tight restrictions on Palestinians seeking to enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound — the third holiest site in Islam — during a succession of Jewish holidays.
The Palestinian human rights group al-Haq warned on Saturday that the occupied Palestinian territories stood “on the brink.”
The group blamed “Israel’s wanton and excessive use of force against Palestinians, with no accountability for the deaths they cause” for the high death toll.
(Ma’an)
