Weapons seized after PIJ operative Farouk Salameh was killed by IDF forces (Credit: IDF Spokesperson’s Unit)
A Palestinian terrorist injured three Israeli police officers in a stabbing attack in Jerusalem’s Old City on Thursday.
Earlier this morning, police officers stopped a Palestinian acting suspiciously who entered the Muslim quarter in Jerusalem’s Old City from the Damascus Gate and started to question him, according to Israel Police.
“During the examination of the suspect, he pulled out a knife and stabbed one of the officers in his upper body,” police stated.
Two police officers opened fire at the Palestinian attacker and killed him, the police said.
According to the police report, one policeman in moderate condition was taken to hospital for medical treatment and the two other policemen who were injured during the attack were treated at the scene by Magen David Adom and other first responders.
Israel’s Public Security Minister Omer Barlev commended Israel’s security forces for their “vigilance and professionalism” in spotting and neutralizing the terrorist who could have harmed civilians.
“The police have proven once again that they are a buffer between the citizens of Israel and the terrorists, sometimes at real risk to their lives, and I praise them for their operation, determination and courage,” Barlev said. “I wish a speedy recovery to the police officers who were injured in the attack.”
The attack comes just a day after an Israeli officer was seriously injured on Wednesday in a car ramming by a Palestinian driver at a security checkpoint in the West Bank. Tensions in the West Bank have flared up in recent months as Israel’s security forces are conducting counter-terrorism operations almost on a daily basis in response to an increase in attacks by Palestinian and Arab Israeli perpetrators, which claimed dozens of Israeli casualties this year.
During raids and violent clashes more than 30 Palestinians were killed in recent months in what the UN described as a historically deadly year for Palestinians in the West Bank.
“It’s time to restore security to the streets, it’s time to put order here, it’s time to have a landlord here, it’s time that a terrorist who goes out to carry out an attack is eliminated,” urged Otzmah Yehudit head Itamar Ben Gvir.
Also on Thursday Israeli security forces targeted and killed Farouk Salameh, an Islamic Jihad terrorist during an operation in the northern West Bank town of Jenin. Salameh was involved in a gunfire in May in the northern West Bank which fatally killed IDF Sgt. Maj. Noam Raz, according to the Israeli army.
The PIJ operative suspected of cooperating with the Lion’s Den, a newly-emerged Nablus-based militant group, was allegedly behind additional shooting attacks against IDF soldiers and was suspected of planning major attacks.
“There was an exchange of fire at the scene and the suspect managed to run away,” the IDF stated. “The forces then conducted a search for the suspect, during which the suspect pulled out a gun.”
“The soldiers responded with live fire and the suspect was neutralized.”
The Israeli army arrested another five wanted suspects and confiscated two handguns and a M-16 rifle.
