Israelis shot dead three Palestinians they said had attacked them with knives in Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Hebron, the latest in a month of violent confrontations.
Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said a 16-year-old Palestinian drew a knife on officers in Jerusalem when they stopped him to ask for identification after a bystander said he was behaving suspiciously. She said the officers shot and killed the teenager after he tried to stab them.
The incident took place near where two Palestinian men boarded a bus earlier in the week and began shooting and stabbing passengers, killing two.
Elsewhere on Saturday, Israel’s military said an Israeli pedestrian shot and killed a Palestinian who tried to stab him in Hebron, a frequent flashpoint where a few hundred Jewish settlers live in close proximity to tens of thousands of Palestinians. The military said the Palestinian was shot dead before he could harm the man.
Later, police said a Palestinian woman stabbed a female officer at a border police base in Hebron before the officer shot her dead. The officer’s hand was lightly wounded.
Over the past month, eight Israelis have been killed in Palestinian attacks, most of them stabbings. In that time, 39 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire, including 18 labelled by Israel as attackers, and the rest in clashes with Israeli troops.
Most of the attacks on Israelis have been carried out by Palestinians with no known ties to militant groups. The daily attacks have caused a sense of panic across Israel and raised fears that the region is on the cusp of a new round of heavy violence.
The violence broke out a month ago over the Jewish New Year, fuelled by rumours that Israel was plotting to take over Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site, a hilltop compound revered by Jews as the Temple Mount and home to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third-holiest shrine and a key national symbol for the Palestinians.
Israel has adamantly denied the allegations, saying it has no plans to change the status quo at the site, where Jews are allowed to visit but not pray. The Palestinian fears have been fuelled by a growing number of Jews visiting the compound in recent months, especially during holidays, with the encouragement of Jewish activist groups and senior government officials.
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has at times tried to calm the situation by saying violence is not in the Palestinians' interest and behind the scenes has ordered his security forces to reduce frictions.
But Israel accuses him of incitement, saying he has not condemned attacks on Israelis and falsely accused Israel of having “summarily executed” a Palestinian boy who stabbed an Israeli boy. The Palestinian teenager is recovering in an Israeli hospital.
Israel has taken unprecedented steps in response to the attacks. It has deployed soldiers in Israeli cities and erected concrete barriers outside some Arab neighbourhoods of east Jerusalem, where most of the attacks have originated. Ordinary citizens have also increasingly taken up arms to protect themselves.
Uri Nuriel (31), said he was riding his bicycle in Jerusalem on Saturday when he noticed a Palestinian smiling oddly. “He was holding his bag suspiciously, I thought it was an explosive,” he said. He informed police officers stationed nearby, who then confronted the youth, leading to Saturday’s confrontation.
Many of the attackers have been Palestinian youths, and a local police commander at the scene of Saturday’s incident in Jerusalem pleaded for their parents to restrain them.
"I call on the parents to show responsibility for their children and tell us, the police, about any unusual behaviour," said Haim Shmueli. "Inform us so that we can deal with these kids and won't have to get to a place where we have to track them down here on the streets and neutralise them."
On Friday, Palestinian assailants firebombed a West Bank site revered by Jews as the tomb of the biblical figure Joseph.
United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon condemned the attack, saying extremists were trying to make the current conflict a religious one.
AP