A Palestinian man stabbed and seriously injured an Israeli Border Police officer Sunday outside Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate, police said. An officer on the scene shot and killed the suspected assailant.
An Israel Police spokesperson said a Palestinian suspect stabbed the officer, who then shot the suspected assailant.
The suspect was identified as an 18-year-old Palestinian man from the West Bank, but not immediately named, Israel Radio reported. He was seriously injured and sent to Hadassah Hospital.
The officer suffered serious injuries and was taken to Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Hospital after receiving treatment on site. The man was reportedly on life support.
Police said they closed off the area after the incident and deployed large numbers of reinforcements across the city.
Jerusalem police chief Chico Edry told reporters on the scene after the incident that in instances were officers are attacked, their assailants must be shot dead at the scene immediately.
“The officer acted heroically, the attacked needs to be killed at the scene of the incident,” he said.
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said after arriving at the Damascus Gate that life in Jerusalem must continue as normal. “I call on all residents of the State of Israel to continue visiting Jerusalem and strengthen it,” he said.
Tensions have been on the rise between Palestinians and Israelis with the start of the month-long Ramadan holiday last week.
Sunday’s incident came two days after an Israeli man was killed and another was moderately injured in a shooting attack outside of the West Bank settlement of Dolev on Friday. The attacker was still at large.
