At least three Israelis have been wounded, two of them seriously, during a knife attack by two Palestinians outside one of the gates of Jerusalem’s Old City.
The two attackers were shot by police at the scene. One was reportedly killed and the other badly injured. Police said one of the wounded Israelis may have been struck by officers’ gunfire.
The attack took place just outside the Jaffa gate into the Old City, on a paved walkway under the city wall.
Witnesses said they saw one of the victims struggling with his attacker on the ground as he was stabbed multiple times.
“Two people were struggling and at first I thought it was a game,” one witness, Yael, told Israel Radio. “I saw [the attacker] trying to stab [his victim] with all his might. I saw the victim try to get away from him, but he couldn’t.”
The Old City of Jerusalem has seen multiple stabbing attacks targeting Israelis in the last three months. Most have taken place around the Damascus gate, the main entrance to the Old City’s Muslim quarter.
Since mid-September, a wave of Palestinian attacks have killed 19 Israelis and an American student. Nearly 120 Palestinians have died by Israeli fire in the same period, including 81 said by Israel to be attackers. The rest have been killed in clashes with Israeli security forces.
