Palestinian killed after attempting to stab Israeli police in Jerusalem

Reports of clashes in Silwad came after another day of violence in the West Bank which saw two Palestinians shot after alleged attempted attacks.

Weeks before, two 16-year-old Palestinians were shot dead at the checkpoint, one of whom was run over and shot by prominent Israeli settler Gershon Mesika after he said she was attempting to carry out an attack.

Officers approached a man they said was following Jewish worshippers, and asked to see his papers, spokeswoman Luba Samri said.

The man’s identity wasn’t published, but police said he was a Palestinian from the Ramallah area who had entered Israel illegally.

Palestinians have killed 20 Israelis & a US citizen within the same period, raising fears of a wider escalation, a decade after the last Palestinian rebellion subsided.

A Palestinian stabbed an Israeli soldier with a kitchen knife in Jerusalem today, wounding him moderately before he was arrested, police said.

The Palestinian health ministry said that the attackers were aged 17 and 23.

None of the officers were hurt in the latest of a wave of similar, nearly daily attacks.

The Israeli military said that hundreds of Palestinians had gathered near the border and were trying to damage the fence by hurling rocks and rolling burning tires at it, and to prevent infiltration, soldiers opened fire at the main instigators.

The two police took a step back to avoid the attack while one of them fired at the assailant, killing him at the scene. A security guard overpowered and captured the assailant.

Israeli leaders blame the Palestinian Authority for incitement to violence due to religious motives, sparked by tensions over the flashpoint holy site of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in east Jerusalem.

Police said they used anti-riot measures to disperse the demonstrators after some began throwing rocks.

Israel has blamed Palestinians for the outbreak of violence.