Update: Israeli police woman dies of wounds in East Jerusalem attack

An Israeli border police woman died of wounds in a Palestinian stabbing and shooting attack in East Jerusalem on Wednesday, the Israeli police said.

Hadar Cohen, 19, who was in training to become a member of the paramilitary unit, died at the Hadassah Har Hazofim hospital after suffering critical wounds from the attack at the Damascus Gate in East Jerusalem.

Earlier on Wednesday, a group of Israeli border police guards noticed three suspicious Palestinians during their patrol at the Damascus Gate, a site were many attacks happened in the four-month long wave of violence.

The guards approached the suspects for inspection, and the three wielded knives and Carl Gustav automatic rifles at them and acted out a combined shooting and stabbing attack, police spokeswoman Luba Samri said in a statement.

Other than Cohen, another female guard was seriously injured. Forces at the scene shot and killed the three Palestinian assailants, said by police to be in their 20s from the area of Jenin in the northern West Bank.

Samri added that explosives were found on the bodies of the assailants, prompting forces to believe a bigger attack was planned.

The ongoing wave of violence started in October, and was initially sparked around East Jerusalem, prompting Israeli authorities to boost police presence in the city, with many deployed in sensitive areas.

Twenty-six Israelis and one U.S. citizen were killed in a string of lone-wolf attacks by Palestinians in the past four and a half months. At least 160 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire, most of whom were killed after allegedly carrying attacks.

Israeli leaders blamed the Palestinian Authority for stoking up the violence, whereas the Palestinians charge the Palestinian uprising is the result of frustration over the 49-year Israeli occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, where Palestinians wish to establish a state. Endit