An Israeli police officer has been stabbed to death in what initial reports suggest was a coordinated attack by three Palestinians at two locations just outside Jerusalem’s Old City.
At one scene, two Palestinians were shot dead after opening fire at and trying to stab a group of Israeli police officers on Friday night, police said. At the other, a Palestinian fatally stabbed a border policewoman before being shot dead by police.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the stabbing but the militant Palestinian organisation Hamas and the People’s Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) said the three attackers and were their own members.
The policewoman was identified as Hadas Malka, 23, a staff sergeant major.
According to Israeli media, the officer was attacked by two individuals, one with a knife and the second with a “Carlos” homemade submachine gun, which jammed without firing.
At the same time a third attacker armed with a knife reportedly wounded two Israelis nearby before also being shot.
Photographs and video footage from the aftermath of the attack showed the body of an alleged assailant as well as a knife and submachine gun.
According to the police, four other people were wounded – two moderately and two lightly.
In a briefing with journalists Jerusalem police commander Yoram Halevy said the three men involved in the attack were aged between between 18 and 19 years old and had entered Jerusalem from the West Bank.
Palestinian media named the attackers as Adel Ankush, 18, from a village near Ramallah, Bra’a Salah, 18, from the same village, and Amar Bedui, 31 from Hebron.
Since September 2015, Palestinian assailants have killed 42 Israelis, two visiting Americans and a British student, mainly in stabbing, shooting and vehicular attacks. In that time, about 250 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire. Israel identified most of them as attackers.
Israel blames the violence on incitement by Palestinian political and religious leaders compounded by social media sites that glorify violence and encourage attacks.
Palestinians say it stems from anger over decades of Israeli rule in territory they claim for their state.
