Israelis have faced days of multiple Palestinian stabbing attacks.
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A bystander of Eritrean origin, not involved in the attack, was also killed by Israeli police who mistook him for a second gunman.
“There was a shooting attack at the central bus station, a number of ambulances arrived at the scene immediately”.
Israel’s cabinet also imposed more security measures on Sunday after further Palestinian stabbings on Saturday, widening police stop-and-frisk powers that will effectively allow them to search anyone on the street.
Federica Mogherini, the European Union foreign policy chief, in a phone call with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday, urged for an end to violence and the proportionate use of force.
A few warn that recent events – a rise in “lone wolf” attacks by Palestinians and Israeli crackdowns – offer a taste of the constant hate-filled skirmishes that would likely prevail for years if there’s no deal on setting up Palestine next to Israel.
Meanwhile in east Jerusalem, a Palestinian tried to stab a soldier at a checkpoint but was shot dead. The Palestinians want east Jerusalem as the capital of their hoped-for state.
The alleged attacks are the latest in a month of violent confrontations across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Clashes at the compound between Israeli police and Palestinian protesters in September preceded the current wave of violence.
Also Sunday, the Israeli military removed dozens of Jewish worshippers who clashed with Palestinians during an unauthorized visit to a Jewish shrine in the West Bank that was recently torched by Palestinians. It accuses the Palestinians of inciting to violence through the false claims. The incident saw a group of about 30 religious students from a school in Jerusalem travel to Joseph’s Tomb in the northern West Bank city of Nablus despite not having the required authorisation from Israel’s military. The area is under Palestinian control but Jewish prayer is permitted there when co-ordinated with authorities.
“They want to humiliate us”, said Taher Obeid, a 26-year-old janitor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Earlier on Friday, a Palestinian injured by Israeli gunfire last week during clashes along the Gaza border died from his wounds, the Gaza Ministry of Health said. The demonstrators were heavily guarded by Israel’s security forces. One of them was lightly wounded and five were taken for police questioning.
The other three stabbing attacks Saturday took place in the West Bank city of Hebron, a frequent flash point where a few hundred Jewish settlers live in close proximity to tens of thousands of Palestinians. The site is known to Jews as the Temple Mount, or home of their biblical Temples, and to Muslims as the Haram as-Sharif, marking the spot where the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven.
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“Israel can not accept the French draft resolution at the United Nations Security Council”, Netanyahu said.
