The police on Saturday said a Palestinian stabbed two Israelis in Jerusalem’s Old City before he was shot dead by an officer on duty.
Jerusalem police chief Moshe Edri said the Palestinian “stabbed an Israeli man, his wife and the toddler” multiple times in an alleyway before stabbing another man. Both Israeli men succumbed to their wounds, he said.
Police spokesperson Luba Samri said the Palestinian attacker took a gun from one of the wounded men and opened fire at police and tourists.
Police identified the attacker as Muhannad Halabi, a 19-year-old from Al-Bireh, near Ramallah.
On Thursday, suspected Palestinian gunmen killed an Israeli couple in the West Bank. Multiple shots killed Eitam and Naama Henkin, residents of the Jewish West Bank settlement of Neria.
Tensions have been running high in Jerusalem since Israel on September 9 banned two Muslim groups which confront Jewish visitors to the al-Aqsa mosque compound.
The compound - known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif - is the holiest site in Judaism, and contains the al-Aqsa Mosque - the third holiest site in Islam.
