BICOM

Two Israeli civilians and an Israeli police officer sustained light injuries on Saturday in a stabbing attack in Jerusalem.

On Saturday a 17-year-old Palestinian assailant stabbed two ultra-orthodox civilians in the Old City before attempting to escape. Border policemen subsequently chased the assailant into a house on Haguy street and following an altercation, shot and killed him. One of the Border Police officers was stabbed in the process and sustained light injuries.

The two civilians who were injured in the stabbing attack were discharged from Hadassah Hospital on Saturday night, whilst the injured Border Policeman remains hospitalised in Shaare Zedek Hospital.

Security forces raided the assailant’s home in Nablus to ascertain if he acted alone and if he had any affiliations to terrorist organisations.

Also over the weekend the IDF sealed a bookstore in the northern West Bank town of Nablus that was suspected of being used to manufacture explosives. According to the IDF, the premises were used by a Hamas cell that was uncovered last December while they were planning to commit terror attacks in Jerusalem and Haifa.

Police Asst. Cmdr. Doron Turjeman told Army Radio on Sunday that they were preparing for an escalation in violence ahead of the Passover holiday.

He said: “The holidays create a situation of greater sensitivity and tension, and are preferred dates for terror attacks. We will deploy in greater force ahead of the holiday, based on situation assessments.”

Although in recent months the frequency of attacks has slowed, and so far, 2017 has been quieter than the previous year, 46 people have been killed by stabbings, shootings and car-rammings in a wave of Palestinian terror attacks since October 2015, with many attacks taking place in or around Jerusalem’s Old City.