New stabbing attacks in Israel

The latest developments in ongoing tensions between Palestinians and Israelis following days of violence in Jerusalem and the West Bank (all times local).

Another Palestinian woman was shot at the central bus station of the northern city of Afula, reportedly after trying to carry out a stabbing attack against a soldier. The attacker told police after his arrest that he “thought all Arabs are terrorists”, according to a police spokeswoman.

On Sunday, Israel had barred Palestinians from entering the Old City, a holy site for Christians, Jews and Muslims alike, after several incidents in which Palestinians stabbed Israeli citizens. Three others were killed during clashes with Israeli security forces, including a 13-year-old near Bethlehem.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians also work in Israel, particularly in construction.

A yeshiva student was in serious condition after a Palestinian man stabbed him in the neck in an apparent terror attack in Jerusalem. She says troops opened fire toward the protesters’ lower bodies.

A rash of attacks aimed at Israeli civilians and soldiers this week have been mostly carried out by young Palestinians stabbing people on the streets seemingly at random, making it hard for authorities to predict or prevent them.

It consisted of dozens of attacks, including the slaying last week of an Israeli couple, Na’ama and Eitam Henkin, near the West Bank settlement of Itamar.

In what appeared to be the first revenge attack amid the wave of violence, an Israeli man stabbed and wounded four Arabs in the southern Israeli city of Dimona, police spokeswoman Luba Samri said.

The attacker, a 17-year-old, is in custody. Witnesses said they had been fired at by Israeli snipers in guard posts along the border fence, about 400 metres away from where the Palestinians were protesting.

Eighty-seven have been injured with live ammunition, and 290 with rubber-coated steel bullets.

An ultra-orthodox Jewish boy stands in front of an Israeli policeman patroling at the scene of a suspected Palestinian stabbing attack on an Israeli in Jerusalem, October 9, 2015. Further clashes broke out at the Bet El checkpoint outside the West Bank city of Ramallah on Thursday.

During their phone conversation Sunday, Abbas urged the United Nations chief to swiftly respond to the Palestinian request of global protection before “matters get out of control”. The compound is the third-holiest site in Islam and the most sacred to Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount.

Many Israeli cars were reported damaged in rock throwing incidents throughout the West Bank Thursday, but there were no injuries. Palestinians have repeatedly barricaded themselves inside the Al-Aqsa mosque there, and hurled stones, firebombs and fireworks at the police.

Many of these knife and gun attacks on Israelis have been concentrated in Jerusalem, the city that both sides claim as their capital.