At least 5 dead, 20 wounded in “Day of Rage” in Israel

Another died in a vehicle and knife attack elsewhere in the city.

In the most serious attack Tuesday, two Palestinian assailants boarded a bus in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Armon Hanatziv and began shooting and stabbing passengers, Israeli police said. Two Israelis and one attacker were killed.

“We don’t know what to do, or where to walk”, Avi Shemesh, a witness to the attack, told reporters.

Deeply alarmed by the escalating violence and widespread loss of civilian life in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem and in Israel, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) called for strong and immediate action to stem the ongoing violence and prevent its further escalation.

Of those killed, 10 have been identified by Israeli security forces as “attackers”.

At least 17 random stabbing attacks against Israeli Jews have been reported since last Wednesday. The attacker was also injured.

Another Israeli was killed when a Palestinian reportedly rammed his auto into a bus stop on Malchai Yisrael street in West Jerusalem.

“According to worldwide law, lethal force may not be used except when one or more lives are in actual danger”, said Al-Haq director Shawan Jabarin. Hours before, a police officer had been wounded when a Palestinian driver detonated a bomb at a checkpoint on the route from Jerusalem to the West Bank settlement of Ma’ale Adumim.

An eastern Jerusalem resident employed by a local rehabilitation center stabbed pedestrians at a bus stop on Ahuza Street, the city’s main thoroughfare. Other videos praising and encouraging attacks on Israelis have also emerged on YouTube and Facebook, while Twitter hashtags including “Jerusalem Intifada” or “Intifada of the Knives” are gaining traction on Palestinian social media.

There were two more knife attacks in the central Israel city of Raanana.

One of the attackers was shot dead while the other was wounded, police said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called for an emergency session of the security cabinet to discuss new potential security measures, including relaxing gun licensing, so Israelis can easily buy more firearms and close off the Palestinian suburbs of east Jerusalem.

At least five Israelis have been killed and 20 wounded in a series of stabbings and other attacks by Palestinians during the past two weeks.

Since the beginning of this month, the region has been wracked by violence, resulting in both Palestinian and Israel deaths.

Leaders of the Arab-Israeli community have called for a commercial strike in towns and villages across the country.

Unrest has also spread with battles across the border in recent days leaving nine Palestinians dead.

Israeli police officers surveying the scene of a stabbing in Jerusalem yesterday.