Israelis seriously injured, Palestinian killed in Jerusalem stabbing attack

Three Israelis were injured in moderate to critical condition and a Palestinian attacker was shot and killed in a stabbing attack in Jerusalem on Wednesday, the Israeli police said.

Two Palestinian attackers stabbed Israeli bystanders at the Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem, at the entrance to the old city, a site where several attacks took place in the past two months, police spokeswoman Luba Samri said in a statement.

Two Israelis were seriously wounded and a third moderately wounded, according to Israeli emergency services.

Security forces at the scene shot the attackers, killing one and injuring another, the Israeli police said.

This attack comes amid an ongoing wave of violence which started in October, which claimed the lives of 19 Israelis and a U.S. national in lone-wolf stabbing, shooting and vehicular attacks, and of more than 120 Palestinians, some killed in clashes with Israeli security forces, while others gunned down while allegedly trying to carry out attacks against Israelis.

Israeli leaders blame the Palestinian Authority for incitement to violence, allegedly due to strife over the religious holy site of the al-Aqsa mosque in east Jerusalem, holy to both Jews and Muslims.

On the other hand, Palestinians charge Israel's ongoing occupation of the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip territories since 1967 and the dim prospects to establish a Palestinian state in these territories amid a two-state peace solution are to blame for the wave of unrest. Endit