Two Israelis injured, Palestinian attacker killed in Jerusalem stabbing attack

Two Israelis were injured and a Palestinian assailant was killed in a stabbing attack in Jerusalem on Friday, Israeli police said.

The Palestinian attacker, identified as a 20-year-old resident of an east Jerusalem Arab neighborhood, attacked a group of policemen with a knife at the Damascus Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem, where several attacks took place amid the five-month-long wave of violence, police spokeswoman Luba Samri said in a statement.

He managed to stab two policemen and they were wounded in light to moderate condition. Another policeman managed to shoot and kill the attacker, Samri added.

The two policemen were evacuated to the Shaarei Zedek hospital in Jerusalem.

On Thursday, an Israeli soldier was killed and another person moderately wounded in a stabbing attack which took place at the Sha'ar Binyamin Industrial Zone in the West Bank, north of Jerusalem.

At least 27 Israelis have been killed since early October in stabbing, shooting and vehicular attacks by Palestinians. More than 160 Palestinians have died, some after carrying out attacks while others gunned down by Israeli security forces during clashes.

Israeli leaders charge the wave of violence is a result of incitement by the Palestinian Authority, whereas the Palestinians charge it is frustration with the 49-year Israeli occupation of the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, where Palestinians wish to establish their own state, and the dim hopes of renewing the peace talks, in accordance with the two-state solution. Endit