An Israeli border policeman was stabbed in the neck by a Palestinian he was questioning at Jerusalem Old City’s Damascus Gate, police said on Sunday. The Palestinian was shot and both are being treated for their wounds.
In another incident, Israeli soldiers shot a Palestinian who infiltrated a Jewish settlement on Sunday, the Israeli army said. Another Palestinian was also shot and killed in a stand off with police near the West Bank barrier. The army said the shooting occurred after soldiers spotted a suspect attempting to illegally cross the security fence in the town of Tulkarm.
“The soldiers operated to stop the suspect in accordance with standard operating procedures, using live fire,” according to an army spokesperson.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said the man was killed.
Just hours before the attacks on Sunday, Israeli forces had caught two Palestinians who were suspected of sneaking into Israel and killing three people in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish town of Elad on Israel’s Independence Day last Thursday.
Hours later, the army said a civilian shot a knife-wielding Palestinian at the doorway of his home who had broken into the Tekoa settlement in the West Bank. The Palestinian Health Ministry said a 17-year-old Palestinian was killed at the scene.
The killing of three people in Elad on Thursday had led to a three-day manhunt by Israeli forces for two axe-wielding assailants who had run through the town, some nine miles north of Tel Aviv.
The two men were captured on Sunday in a forest near Elad, the Israeli army said. They have been identified by Israel as residents of a village near the Palestinian city of Jenin in the West Bank.
Photos of the two, who appeared to be unhurt, and of Israeli security men with guns pointed at their hiding place, were carried by Israeli news websites after they were taken into custody.
Since March, Palestinians and members of Israel’s Arab minority have killed 18 people, including three police officers and a security guard, in attacks in Israel and the West Bank that have mostly targeted civilians.
Israel has carried out arrest raids in Palestinian towns and villages targeting these groups, which have often sparked clashes and brought the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces or armed civilians defending themselves since the beginning of the year to at least 42.
The casualties include armed members of militant groups, lone assailants, and bystanders.
Hamas, the Islamist terrorist group that controls Gaza, praised the Elad assault. It said the attack was a response to Israeli actions at Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem.
Over the past month, Palestinians and Israeli police have repeatedly clashed at the sensitive complex.
Palestinians and Jordan, the custodian of the site that is the third holiest in Islam, accuse Israel of not doing enough to enforce a long-standing ban on non-Muslim prayer there, which Israel denies.
The compound is Judaism’s holiest site and the vestige of two ancient Jewish temples.
