“The security forces are on heightened alert and I will meet with them today in order to ensure that we will be ready to defend our people during this sensitive period”, he said at his weekly Cabinet meeting.
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Israeli police say a Palestinian assailant stabbed two police officers near Jerusalem’s Old City before troops shot and wounded him.
“Forces at the scene fired at the vehicle resulting in the death of one of the assailants while the other was wounded”, the army said.
A few hours later, at a junction near Hebron, a Palestinian stabbed an Israeli soldier, who opened fire and killed him, the military said.
A Palestinian assailant stabbed two police officers outside Jerusalem’s Old City early on Monday and was shot, police said, following a bloody weekend that shattered weeks of relative calm.
Earlier on Friday, Israeli forces opened fire at a auto with two people inside it killing one and injuring another claiming the driver attempted to ram into settlers near Kiryat Arba settlement, outside of Hebron’s Old City.
Jordan called the shooting a “barbaric act” and alleged that the man killed was part of a group of tourists.
The spike in violence spurred the Israeli military to send troop reinforcements to the West Bank.
The attacks, a auto ramming, three stabbings, and rock and bottle throwing, came after a seeming downturn in the violence against Israelis that began with the Rosh Hashanah holiday previous year.
Soldiers shot dead a Palestinian on Friday after he allegedly stabbed and lightly wounded an Israeli soldier near the Tel Rumeida neighborhood.
Many analysts say Palestinian frustration with the Israeli occupation and settlement-building in the West Bank, the complete lack of progress in peace efforts and their own fractured leadership have fed the unrest.
Israel blames the deadly violence on incitement by Palestinian political and religious leaders.
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Israel has occupied the West Bank since capturing it in the Six-Day War of 1967.
