A stabbing attack took place at the Damascus Gate of Jerusalem’s Old City on Friday morning.
Two Border Police officers were lightly to moderately wounded in the attack with stab wounds to the upper body, and the terrorist was eliminated. A 50-year-old female Arab passerby was lightly wounded in the leg by shrapnel as the terrorist was shot.
“A terrorist attacked a squad of officers from behind, stabbed and wounded them lightly, the squad responded with fire and neutralized the terrorist,” police said in a statement, identifying the dead terrorist as a 20-year-old from Kafr Aqab, located to the north of Jerusalem.
Reportedly the terrorist held a blue teudat zehut ID card, indicating permanent Israeli residency.
Magen David Adom (MDA) teams provided medical treatment to the wounded at the site prior to evacuating them to Shaare Tzedek Hospital in the city.
An Arab woman who suffered light wounds to the leg during the attack from shrapnel, inflicted as the security officers shot the terrorist, was given treatment at the scene.
MDA paramedic Guy Gonen and MDA emergency medic Noam Ra’av who treated the wounded said, “when we arrived at the scene we saw two youths around 20 years of age fully conscious, they were walking around, one suffering a wound to the limbs and his friends who were with him immediately bandaged him.”
“The other (victim) suffered several stab wounds to the upper body,” said the medics. “We put the two in the emergency medical vehicle and while evacuating them to the hospital we gave them medical treatment, with one defined as in light to moderate condition and the other light, they were stable and communicated with us on the way.”
Nachum Bernstein, deputy Jerusalem branch head of the United Hatzalah emergency medical group, said, “when I reached the scene I came across two youths fully conscious after knife stabs to the upper body, and another passerby in light condition who was injured in the leg due to the gunfire towards the terrorist who conducted the attack.”
“The quick actions of the security forces with the grace of God prevented the terrorist from harming other civilians.”
Four Damascus Gate attacks in one week
Friday’s stabbing comes in the shadow of another stabbing the day before at a Rami Levy supermarket in Sha’ar Binyamin, in which 21-year-old Tuvia Yanai Weissman was murdered and 36-year-old Avi Avital was moderately wounded by two 14-year-old Arab terrorists.
Damascus Gate has become a central hot spot for attacks during the current wave of Arab terror that began last September, with Friday’s attack marking at least the fourth attack or attack attempt at the site this week alone.
A stabbing was prevented at the site on Tuesday, on Monday a 15-year-old female Palestinian Arab was arrested after a knife was found on her by alert security officers, and a shooting attempt by two Arab terrorists took place at the site on Sunday night.
The two on Sunday were shot by security personnel before they were able to inflict any injuries, and one of the assailants was later identified as a Palestinian Authority (PA) Security Force member.
Sunday night’s shooting attempt was a repeat of an attack two weeks ago on Wednesday, when three terrorists armed with sub-machine guns, bombs and knives opened fire on security personnel at the Damascus Gate, killing female Border Police officer Hadar Cohen before being eliminated.
