We’re wrapping up today’s live blog and I’ll leave you with this detailed piece from Peter Beaumont in Jerusalem, on the worst day of violence since the start of the current escalation in tensions.
The US State Department has issued a statement condemning today’s attacks and the escalation of violence.
Spokesman Josh Kirby said:
The United States condemns in the strongest terms today’s terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians, which resulted in the murder of three Israelis and left numerous others wounded.
We mourn any loss of innocent life, Israeli or Palestinian. We continue to stress the importance of condemning violence and combating incitement.
We are in regular contact with the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority. We remain deeply concerned about escalating tensions and urge all sides to take affirmative steps to restore calm and prevent actions that would further escalate tensions.
The Palestinian news agency Ma’an reports Israeli forces have shot and killed a Palestinian man from the Duheisha refugee camp, during a protest in the West Bank city of Bethlehem.
BREAKING: Palestinian killed in Bethlehem identified as Mutaz Ibrahim Zawahreh, 27.
— Ma'an News Agency (@MaanNewsAgency) October 13, 2015
Mutaz Ibrahim Zawahreh, 27, was hit with a live bullet in the chest and died on the operating table at Beit Jala Governmental Hospital, the agency reported.
An Israeli army spokesman has told Ma’an that the “Palestinian perpertrator” had been holding a Molotov cocktail.
Updated
Thousands of Arab Israelis, many draped in Palestinian flags, are taking part in a huge demonstration in the northern town of Sakhnin, as part of a general strike taking place on Tuesday.
More than 20,000 demonstrators, including Arab Knesset members, are marching to show solidarity with Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
“We’ve been warning for months that they’re doing in Al-Aqsa will spark an intifada, and no one listened, and now everyone’s asking what happened,” ” MK Ahmed Tibi said at the rally, according to Haaretz.
“You lie, and you hurt the mosque, and you’re trying to change the status-quo.”
The Guardian’s Phoebe Greenwood has been talking to locals in Jerusalem’s Old City about the mood on the streets.
“If anyone tells you no one is afraid, he is a liar,” one Palestinian shopkeeper says. “The Jews are afraid, the Palestinians are afraid.
“Anyone who has kids, he must leave [them] in the house because it’s very dangerous.
“Even if a man do anything like just take his telephone [out of his pocket], only the police just see him and because they are afraid, they kill him. And after say ‘We think he wants to [kill] Jews..’ It’s very dangerous.”
“I believe this is the third intifada,” the shopkeeper says, adding that he has told his two sons not to leave the house.
Updated
These images show the thousands of Orthodox Jewish men at the funeral of Rabbi Yeshayahu Kirshavski in Jerusalem.
The 60-year-old was killed earlier today on a bus in Jerusalem after a pair of attackers allegedly began shooting an stabbing passengers.
Here’s the Reuters report from Geneva, where the Palestinians’ flag was raised at UN headquarters for the first time after they were given non-member observer status.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad al-Malki said he did not expect a new uprising.
He said Netanyahu - who has accused Palestinian leaders of inciting violence - was seeking confrontation.
“He knows this is the only way how he is going to continue killing innocent people: by claiming there is an intifada and the Israelis are trying to defend themselves,” Malki said.
The Palestinian Authority has echoed allegations swirling around Arabic social media that some of the Palestinians killed by police in the recent violence have in effect been summarily executed.
Palestinians also see increasing visits over the past year by Jewish groups and right-wing lawmakers to the al-Aqsa plaza, revered by Jews as the site of two destroyed biblical temples and Judaism’s holiest place, as eroding Muslim religious control of the compound.
Netanyahu has said repeatedly that he will not allow any change to the status quo under which Jews are allowed to visit the site but non-Muslim prayer is banned, but his assurances have done little to quell alarm among Muslims across the region.
Updated
Netanyahu accuses Abbas of inciting violence
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is speaking now, and has again accused Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas of inciting violent attacks.
At a Knesset memorial ceremony for assassinated right-wing minister Rehavam Zeevi, Netanyahu said the Palestinian Authority was “turning murderers into heroes.”
We will settle the score with the murderers and those who assist them, and we will cut off the hands of whoever tries to hurt us.
I will not hesitate to use all the tools at our disposal in order to restore calm.
Leaders need must have courage to stand up to extremists. We do not harm innocent people. And if you take the law into your own hands, you will pay for it.
We are focused on our mission, to fight the inciters and the murderers.
The actions that are taken will make the message clear to the other side that terrorism doesn’t pay.
Netanyahu: I am sure our actions will create the awareness on the other side that there is no reward for terrorism
— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) October 13, 2015
Netanyahu to Abbas: To get the stability both of our nations need, you must do what must be done, and I'll do what I have to do.
— Lahav Harkov (@LahavHarkov) October 13, 2015
Updated
Locals in Jerusalem say the streets are eerily quiet, with empty streets similar to a Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, instead of a busy mid-week afternoon.
Malcha mall, the city’s largest shopping centre, is one of the locations residents say is deserted after the series of attacks this morning.
Many on social media noted the attacks may have had their desired effect to make Israelis fearful to leave their homes.
Life under terror in Jerusalem: What shoes do I wear? Which ones will let me run fastest, if I have to run?
— Avi Mayer (@AviMayer) October 13, 2015
Streets eery, empty in #Jerusalem. Feels like a Saturday. (Upside: also no traffic.)
— Molly Hunter (@mollymhunter) October 13, 2015
Jerusalem city center unusually - though hardly surprisingly - quiet. Spent much time looking over my shoulder 😕
— Laura Ben-David (@LauraBenDavd) October 13, 2015
@LauraBenDavd Noticed earlier that streets were basically empty and the few people outside appeared to have weird tics. Very unsettling.
— Elie Leshem (@elieleshem) October 13, 2015
Traveling from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv right now. Hwy closed on & off. Jerusalem felt like a Saturday. People staying off streets & sidewalks
— Dan Senor (@dansenor) October 13, 2015
#Jerusalem is empty. Its tuesday but feels like saturday morning. Todays attacks did there job.
— paralel universe (@ignis_fatum) October 13, 2015
@RealJStreets @AviMayer I feel like everyone is walking around suspecting each other and always looking over their shoulder...
— No Holtz Barred (@mordecaiholtz) October 13, 2015
Malcha Mall in Jerusalem is almost empty
— Gidon Shaviv (@GidonShaviv) October 13, 2015
A graphic video of people taunting a seriously injured young Palestinian boy lying in a pool of blood, with his legs twisted, has gone viral on social media.
Israeli media claims the 13-year-old Palestinian was shot after he and an older teen, launched a stabbing attack against an Israeli Jewish boy, who was riding his bicycle.
The Israeli 13-year-old is still in a serious condition in hospital after the attack in Jerusalem’s Pisgat Ze’ev neighbourhood on Monday. Another 24-year-old Israeli man was also injured in the attack.
The elder Palestinian teen was shot by police but Israeli officials claim the injured younger boy in the video is still alive.
Ofir Gendelman, the prime minister’s spokesman for the Arab press, tweeted:
The PA lies and claims that the 13 y/o Palestinian terrorist who stabbed yesterday a 13 y/o Israeli boy was killed by police, but he's alive
— Ofir Gendelman (@ofirgendelman) October 13, 2015
The reason the PA is lying about this is because it wants a symbol that will be used to escalate the terrorist attacks against Israel.
— Ofir Gendelman (@ofirgendelman) October 13, 2015
The video, which has since been removed from YouTube, appears to show Israelis laughing and shouting at the child as he lies bleeding on the street. “Die, you son of a whore,” one man shouts repeatedly.
The boy can later be seen attempting to sit up, surrounded by police officers. They do not offer him medical assistance, and one appears to kick the boy.
The sharing of the video has caused frenzied debate on social media:
video of 12 year old Palestinian boy dying from bullet wounds & being taunted makes my blood boil. Shot by only "democracy" in Middle East:
— Linda Sarsour (@lsarsour) October 13, 2015
Palestinian boy stabs 2 Israelis before being stabbed himself. Unsurprisingly he is painted as the victim. Hard to find fair reporting today
— George (@wheresmyarsenal) October 12, 2015
Updated
These are the locations of the five flash-points where attacks and violent protests have been taking place on Tuesday. Palestinians have also been gathering in southern Gaza, Bethlehem in the West Bank, and in the Arab neighbourhood of Jabel Mukaber, where the Jerusalem attackers lived, according to police.
Our Jerusalem correspondent Peter Beaumont looks back over the month-long wave of violence across Israel and the Palestinian territories in this dispatch.
He speaks to Hasan Qureishi, deputy speaker of the Palestinian legislative council, who sees a lack of leadership on the Palestinian side. He also speaks to right-wing Israelis protesting in Jerusalem against the perceived leniency shown by the Netanyahu government.
Settlers who had been scheduled to protest outside Netanyahu’s house tonight have cancelled their demonstration after today’s escalation of violent attacks.
Given the security situation settlers cancel major rally planned for tonight in Jerusalem's Paris Square. #Israel #Palestine
— Tovah Lazaroff (@tovahlazaroff) October 13, 2015
Updated
Shops and schools in Israeli-Arab areas and in Palestinian territories have been closed as part of a general strike today, with whole streets in East Jerusalem shuttered, according to these reporters on Twitter.
General strike by #Palestinians in east #Jerusalem , the first one in many years pic.twitter.com/fkdhXos9EY
— Nasser Atta (@nasseratta5) October 13, 2015
Ghost town: Palestinians stage general strike in Israel http://t.co/DKFkj2dv7O pic.twitter.com/mi47XKinDG
— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) October 13, 2015
An update on the condition of the Israelis seriously injured in the stabbing attacks in Jerusalem:
4 Israelis still in serious condition after attacks in Jerusalem. 18 people in total were rushed to hospitals after the two attacks.
— Micky Rosenfeld (@MickyRosenfeld) October 13, 2015
Updated
The Turkish government has called Israel’s use of force against Palestinian protesters “disproportionate” and urged an end to the escalation of violence.
In a statement to Hurriyet Daily News, a foreign ministry spokesman said Ankara was closely following developments, particularly in relation to Muslims’ access to the al-Aqsa mosque compound.
We strongly condemn Israeli security forces’ use of disproportionate force in these incidents which have developed as a result of Israel’s insistence on practices against status quo.
The only way to prevent escalation of the tension is Israel abiding by rules of international law in Palestinian territories which it keeps under occupation and, within this framework, it giving an immediate end to provocative and arbitrary practices which target status and holiness of the al-Haram al-Sharif [the Islamic name for Temple Mount].
Updated
Fifth stabbing confirmed as botched 'revenge attack'
Israeli police now believe that a stabbing attack at an Ikea store in Kiryat Ata involved an Israeli man stabbing a fellow Israeli Jew - who he mistook for an Arab.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld initially called the stabbing a criminally motivated attack. But police have since concluded the man was hoping to stab an Arab in revenge for the attacks against Jews that have spread across Israel. However, he attacked another Israeli Jew whom he thought was an Arab because of his Middle Eastern appearance.
At Kiryat Ata's Ikea, an Israeli Jew knifed another after apparently mistaking him for an Arab; victim wounded, stabber caught - @Channel10
— Dan Williams (@DanWilliams) October 13, 2015
The victim is in hospital recovering from moderate injuries.
Updated
Guardian correspondent Phoebe Greeenwood has sent this dispatch from Rachel’s tomb in Bethlehem.
She reports protesters throwing stones as the Israeli military responds with tear gas, amid unconfirmed reports a Palestinian protester has been shot with live ammunition.
Updated
A funeral is taking place this afternoon for the victim killed in this morning’s attack at a bus stop on Malkei Yisrael street - identified as Rabbi Yeshayahu Krishevsky.
Hundreds of people have gathered in the Orthodox neighbourhood of Geula for the burial.
Haredi community don't wait about. Funeral of 59 year-old Rabbi Krishevsky, murdered this morning, about to begin. https://t.co/ugb9zZAgt6
— Anshel Pfeffer (@AnshelPfeffer) October 13, 2015
Israel: Photo, Funeral underway for Rabbi Yishayahu Krishevski hy"d murdered in today's Jerusalem terror attack pic.twitter.com/T7moKJCpT2
— Yiddish News (@YiddishNews) October 13, 2015
Israeli opposition leader Isaac Herzog has put out a statement via Facebook, where he calls the attacks “a very hard day in the capital”.
He says he will support the lockdown on Arab neighbourhoods of Jerusalem and the wider deployment of police and military, including calling up army reservists if necessary.
Herzog also calls for an aggressive crackdown on radical websites that incite violence.
Temple Mount, the site of the Al-Aqsa mosque, should also be temporarily closed to visitors, he said.
The current wave of violence initially erupted over rumours Israel was planning to restrict access to the Temple Mount, which is holy to both Muslims and Jews. Israel has said there are no plans to alter a longstanding status quo at the site.
Updated
All of the three alleged attackers who are reported to have carried out the attacks in Jerusalem came from the same Arab area of the city, police said.
All 3 Arab terrorists who carried out attacks in Jerusalem came from the Arab neighborhood of Jabel mukaber. Heightened security continues.
— Micky Rosenfeld (@MickyRosenfeld) October 13, 2015
This is Mickey Rosenfeld, the Israeli police spokesman, speaking earlier at the scene of the bus stabbing, where he announces heightened public security measures across all Israeli cities, but especially in Jerusalem.
Lunchtime summary
- Three Israelis have been killed in a pair of separate stabbing and shooting attacks in Jerusalem, with two more stabbings taking place in Ra’anana, in a serious escalation of violence.
- Two attackers boarded the 78 bus in the Jerusalem neighbourhood of Armon Hanatziv, armed with a knife and a gun.
- A 60-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics, and police also killed one of the alleged attackers. Another man, aged 45, died upon arrival at hospital.
- In a near simultaneous attack on Malchei Yisrael street in the Makor Baruch neighbourhood of Jerusalem, one Israeli died after an attacker apparently rammed a car into a bus stop and began stabbing bystanders.
- Two more stabbings took place in the central city of Ra’anana, with several people seriously injured.
- Israeli soldiers have fired at protesters on the Gaza border, with Palestinian medics reporting that five people have been injured.
- At least 27 Palestinians have been killed by Israelis, including 11 identified by Israel as attackers, in twelve days of violence. Nine Palestinians were killed in Gaza over the weekend, including a mother and her two-year-old child. Hundreds more Palestinians have been wounded in confrontations.
- Jerusalem mayor Nir Bakat has called for drastic measures to stop the violence, including asking for Arab neighbourhoods in Jerusalem - 40% of the city’s population - to be placed on lockdown.
- Security minister Gilad Erdan has said he will consider tough restrictions on Arab neighbourhoods in Jerusalem, and a spokeswoman said he was also mulling new legislation to make it easier for Israelis to get gun licences.
-
Prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu has called an emergency meeting of the security cabinet for 3pm local time to discuss a policing strategy.
Updated
Hundreds of Palestinians in southern Gaza have been protesting this morning. At least 27 Palestinians been killed by Israeli fire in the escalation of violence since Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, including 11 attackers.
Others have been killed in confrontations between stone-throwing protesters and Israeli soldiers, including a woman and her two-year-old daughter, with hundreds more Palestinians wounded in the clashes.
The Israeli army has said it will use “riot dispersal means” against the Gaza protesters, as Palestinian medical authorities told Associated Press five people had been shot and wounded by gunfire, two seriously injured.
A general strike is taking place today for Arab-Israeli workers, closing schools and businesses, organised by Israel’s Arab higher monitoring committee and supported by the Arab party Joint List.
“We must collectively mobilize, all of us, [to]... express our democratic and civil struggle,” party chairman Ayman Odeh said.
Updated
Death toll in Jerusalem attacks rises to three
Israeli police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld confirms three people are dead in the Jerusalem attacks, two killed on the bus in Armon HaNatziv, and one killed in the attack at the bus stop on Malchei Yisrael street.
3 Israelis killed in terror attacks in Jerusalem this morning. 2 in bus attacked by terrorists, 1 near center of town attack.
— Micky Rosenfeld (@MickyRosenfeld) October 13, 2015
Updated
In Gaza, a Hamas spokesman has praised the twin attacks in Jerusalem, according to reports.
AP quotes spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri saying the group “praises these heroic operations in Jerusalem and greets the heroes who carried them out”.
Updated
A 60-year-old man was the first victim of the Jerusalem bus attack, pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics. A 45-year-old man critically wounded was later pronounced dead at Sha’are Tzedek hospital, Israel medical authorities report.
Among the injured are a 60-year-old woman and a 40-year-old woman who have been taken to hospital with serious stab wounds, as well as a woman in her sixties and a man in his thirties, who are being treated in hospital for moderate injuries. Three more people suffered minor injuries and two were treated for shock.
Updated
Here are the most recent images from the scene of the separate stabbing attack this morning on Malchei Yisrael street in the Makor Baruch neighbourhood of Jerusalem, an Orthodox area of the city mainly populated by Haredi Jews.
Updated
These are the latest pictures from the bus attack in Jerusalem, where two men are reported to have attempted to hijack the vehicle, armed with a knife and gun.
Two people are now reported to have been killed, with more than a dozen injured.
PM calls emergency meeting
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has called an emergency meeting of the Israeli security cabinet for 3pm, to discuss the most serious series of attacks since the month-long wave of violence began.
Security minister Gilad Erdan is said to be considering travel restrictions on areas of East Jerusalem, a move backed by mayor Nir Barkat.
Updated
Israeli media now reports two Israelis have died after the stabbing attack on the Egged line 78 bus in Jerusalem’s Armon HaNatziv neighbourhood, after a second victim succumbed to serious injuries after being taken to hospital.
At least 16 people are believed to have been injured in that attack. Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat is visiting the scene. He tweeted that he blames Palestinian and Muslim religious leaders for inciting the attacks and called for new restrictions in Jerusalem.
Inflammatory incitement & lies from mosques & Palestinian leaders is resulting in murder & terror in the streets of Jerusalem #ThisMustStop
— Mayor Nir Barkat (@NirBarkat) October 13, 2015
I call on Israeli government to immediately implement drastic measures to ensure security & safety of Jerusalem residents throughout city.
— Mayor Nir Barkat (@NirBarkat) October 13, 2015
Updated
At least four separate attacks across Israel
At least four separate attacks on Israelis have taken place this morning, with Israeli medical services saying at least two victims have died and 20 people have been wounded.
Police report:
- Two attackers in Jerusalem stabbed and shot people on a bus, killing one person and injuring five. One attacker was killed by police and the other detained.
- Almost simultaneously, another attacker rammed his car into a bus stop in central Jerusalem, then began stabbing pedestrians, reportedly killing at least one person and wounding others.
- An attacker stabbed and lightly wounded an Israeli on a shopping street in the central Israeli city of Ra’anana, but was then was apprehended and beaten by locals. He was arrested and taken to hospital.
- Another knife-wielding attacker also struck in Ra’anana a few hours later, wounding four people.
Updated
This picture shows the aftermath of the latest stabbing attack, where an Israeli passerby was wounded in the Israeli city of Ra’anana.
The alleged attacker, pictured here, was tackled and beaten by other members of the public and arrested by Israeli security forces. He has since been taken to hospital, according to Associated Press reports.
Attack on bus in Jerusalem
Peter Beaumont has filed from Jerusalem, where there has been an attack on a bus.
A stabbing attack on a Jerusalem bus has killed one person and injured six more as an escalating spate of violent attacks gripped Israel and the Palestinian Territories claiming two lives and wounding 21 six seriously.
According to eyewitnesses a Palestinian man began stabbing passengers on the 78 bus as it passed through Jerusalem on Tuesday morning.
During the incident the unarmed driver managed to escape and alert another driver who called police. Police then shot and killed the attacker.
In the immediate aftermath of the incident, the body of the attacker still lay on the ground under a white tarpaulin as ambulances ferried the wounded from the scene.
The attack came as reports emerged of a second attack in he city, this time involving a car, which left three people seriously injured.
Jerusalem is swamped with police and other security forces amid planned Palestinian protests and a general strike called both for Israeli Arabs and Palestinians.
According to Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld, two attackers were involved in the assault on the bus, one with a knife, other with a gun. Rosenfeld could not confirm whether shots were fired.
Rosenfeld told journalists at the scene: “Here in Armon HaNetziv, a quiet neighbourhood of Jerusalem, two terrorists attacked a bus with a knife and a pistol.
“Five people were injured and unfortunately an Israeli was killed in the attack. While we were dealing with this, another attack took place in a religious neighbourhood of Jerusalem in which three people were injured, as well as an attack in Ra’anana.”
One of the two men was shot and killed at the scene while the other was seriously injured.
The situation in Jerusalem is “under control”, Rosenfeld added.
Updated
Opening summary
Israelis and Palestinians have been bracing for a day of major protests on Tuesday, with no end to recent violence in sight.
A general strike has been called for Gaza, the West Bank and towns with large populations of Israeli Arabs, followed by a rally in the Galilee town of Sakhnin.
Settlers and members of Israeli rightwing groups are also planning a rally in Jerusalem to protest against Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s handling of the current crisis.
Amid continued attacks and clashes an atmosphere of fear and mutual distrust has descended, particularly in Jerusalem.
By Monday evening four Israelis had been killed in 12 days of violence. About 25 Palestinians had died, some of them alleged attackers. Hundreds of Palestinians had been injured.
Updated
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