Half an hour later, a second Palestinian was shot and killed by Israeli police in the Armon HaNatziv neighborhood of the annexed east Jerusalem, police said.
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Near Hebron, a Palestinian posing as a photojournalist wounded an Israeli soldier with a knife before being shot dead, the army said.
Four Palestinians were shot dead and a fifth wounded in attacks on Israelis in east Jerusalem and the West Bank, as violence that has fuelled concerns of an uprising showed no let-up.
In a separate incident in Hebron, the army said an Israeli settler opened fire on a Palestinian man after an alleged stabbing attempt.
Israel’s military said the Palestinian attempted to stab an Israeli civilian, who was carrying a gun and shot the attacker dead.
Over the last month eight Israelis have been killed in similar random attacks, most of which involved young Palestinians, not affiliated to any political group, stabbing Israeli officers.
The Palestinian dead include attackers wielding knives and protesters shot by Israeli forces as they threw rocks.
But the unrest escalated amid rumours suggesting that Israel was planning changes to Jerusalem’s al- Aqsa holy compound – a site of great importance to both Muslims and Jews.
Meanwhile, in the West Bank city of Hebron, a 26-year-old Palestinian laborer posed as a journalist covering a clash to get close to Israeli soldiers.
“Israel is afraid that any internationalization of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict will allow the UN and the Security Council to implement … resolutions which will put an end to the Israeli occupation … and allow the Palestinians to live freely as all world nations”.
“Israel is not the problem at the Temple Mount, Israel is the solution”, he said at the start of his weekly Cabinet meeting.
Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency services confirmed in a statement that the Palestinian man had died of his injuries. He noted, however, that “reckless statements made by Palestinian and Israeli extremist elements reinforced by a few mainstream voices as well” had created a different impression.
Israel’s military said about 100 people rushed the tomb of the biblical patriarch Joseph, which is located in the Palestinian city of Nablus.
Israel also imposed restrictions on Muslim worship at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, Islam’s third holiest site in Jerusalem’s walled Old City.
Abbas has tried to lower the temperature, telling his security commanders that armed attacks on Israelis counter Palestinian interests.
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.
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US President Barack Obama said he was “very concerned about the outbreak of violence” and urged leaders on both sides to “try to tamp down rhetoric that may feed violence or anger or misunderstanding”.
