Jerusalem: Two Israeli men were killed and two others injured in a stabbing and shooting attack here late Saturday, Israeli police said.
A source from the Israeli prime minister’s office told Xinhua news agency that following the recent attacks, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will return from the US on Sunday afternoon and convene his top ministers for an urgent meeting in Jerusalem. A Palestinian man stabbed two people, then took over one of his victims’ gun and started shooting at passers-by in the Old City of Jerusalem, Israeli police spokesperson Mickey Rosenfeld said.
An Israeli policeman who arrived shortly afterwards shot dead the Palestinian attacker, Rosenfeld told Xinhua news agency. Police forces are currently looking for a possible second militant who had possibly taken part in the attacks around east Jerusalem. The attack comes two days after a Palestinian militant shot and killed an Israeli couple, who were driving in their vehicle in a West Bank road with their four children, who were not harmed in the attack.
There has been a mounting surge of violence in Jerusalem, especially in east Jerusalem, over the flashpoint holy site of Temple Mount. Clashes have been going for weeks between Israeli security forces and Palestinian protesters, as the latter charge Jewish extremists are trying to change the status quo in the holy site.
