Palestinian assailant killed, three injured in stabbing attack

Damascus Gate, Jerusalem
Damascus Gate, Jerusalem

A 20-year-old Palestinian who injured two police officers in stabbing attacks in Jerusalem was killed by security forces at Damascus Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem, Israeli police said.

Muhammad Abu Khalaf from the town of Kafr ‘Aqab in northerneastern Jerusalem stabbed two Border Police officers, wounding one moderately and one lightly before he was shot dead Friday morning, police said.

A bystander, identified as a 50-year-old Palestinian Jerusalem resident, was also lightly wounded from ricochets caused by shots fired at the assailant, Israel Radio reported.

On Thursday, an Israeli soldier was killed and a second seriously injured in a stabbing attack at a West Bank supermarket.

The victims, 21 and 35, were attacked Thursday afternoon at the Rami Levi supermarket in Shaar Binyamin, north of Jerusalem. The 21-year-old, Tuvia Yanai Weisman, died of his wounds that evening at a Jerusalem hospital and was buried Friday on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem. A soldier in the Nachal infantry brigade, he is survived by his wife and 4-month-old daughter.

The suspected assailants are Palestinian boys ages 14 and 15 from the West Bank town of Beitunia, near Ramallah, Israel Police said. They were shot and injured by an armed civilian bystander, according to the Israel Defence Forces. Paramedics treated the alleged assailants at the scene before they were taken to the hospital, the IDF said.