Israeli border policemen aim to fire tear gas during a confrontation with Palestinians after Friday prays outside the Old City in Jerusalem Friday, Oct. 2, 2015.(Photo: Mahmoud Illean, AP)
Israeli police on Sunday took the unprecedented step of barring Palestinian residents of Jerusalem from entering the Old City after two stabbing attacks on Israelis by Palestinians.
A Palestinian teenager who stabbed and wounded a 15-year-old Israeli early Sunday was shot dead, Israeli police said. It came after a Palestinian man fatally stabbed two Israelis and wounded two more, including a toddler, Saturday. He was shot dead by police.
Tensions have been rising in the region in recent weeks, mainly around the religious site known to Jews as Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, home to the Al-Aqsa mosque. The outer wall of the temple compound is the Jewish holy site known as the Western Wall.
The unrest has spread to the West Bank, where Israeli troops on Sunday shot and wounded at least 26<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Palestinians during an arrest raid in the Jenin refugee camp, a Palestinian hospital director said, according to the Associated Press. Two Palestinians were arrested suspected of "terror activity," the news agency said.
Israeli police said they are preventing Palestinian residents of east Jerusalem from entering the Old City for two days during a Jewish holiday to prevent violence, the AP reported. Palestinians who live, work and study within the Old City, Israelis and tourists will be allowed in.
Access to the Temple Mount or Noble Sanctuary for Muslim worshipers was restricted to men over 50 years old, and there was no age limit for women,
the Jerusalem Post reported.
USA TODAY
Palestinian kills 2 Israelis, wounds toddler in Jerusalem
"The regulations implemented are definitely necessary in order to deal with the recent terrorist attacks," said Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld, according to the AP.
There are about 300,000 Palestinians living in Jerusalem —<span style="color: Red;">*</span>about a third of the city's population.
Speaking to Army Radio on Sunday, Minister of Intelligence Israel Katz said: "We will toughen our measures against the Palestinians. There could be a need for another Operation Defensive Shield,"
the Jerusalem Post reported.
The 2002 Operation Defensive Shield saw Israeli security forces seize most of the buildings in the compound of Yasser Arafat, then chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, and enforce curfews.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would meet with security officials Sunday to decide upon a "harsh offensive on Palestinian Islamic terror," a statement on his Facebook page said. "We are in an all-out war against terror," he said.
Contributing: Yamiche Alcindor
Powered By WizardRSS.com |
Full Text RSS Feed
