Palestinians kill Israeli officer before being shot dead

Police named the dead female officer as 19-year-old Hadar Cohen.

Security officials who were on patrol demanded that they stop for a search after three people aroused their suspicion near the Damascus Gate of the Old City. The attack was perpetrated by three Palestinian terrorists equipped with concealed Carl Gustav sub-machine guns, knives, and bombs.

One of the officers was wounded by the gunfire and the other was stabbed during the assault, according to Reuters.

Most of the attackers were minors who lived in the city and the attacks were spontaneous, police sources said.

Maj. Gen. Nitsan Alon, head of the Israeli army’s operations directorate, told a gathering of foreign journalists on Wednesday that the violence showed no signs of abating anytime soon and that Israel needs to adapt its response accordingly.

“This is the second or third time we see guns and explosive devices being integrated into attacks in just the last two weeks”, Rosenfeld said.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health reported that between 2006 and 2011, 188 Gazans were killed digging tunnels, and ten percent of those deaths were of children under the age of 18.

Three Israelis were wounded in that attack. Most of the attacks have been stabbings, although there have also been occasional shootings. The Palestinians say it is rooted in frustrations stemming from almost 50 years of Israeli occupation.

The attack happened during a routine check by Jerusalem police. One of them was banned from entering Israel for security reasons.

Palestinian members of the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas movement carry the body of fellow militant Ahmed Al-Zahar during his funeral in the village of Al-Moghraga near the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip yesterday.

The Middle East country said the violence has been fuelled by a Palestinian “campaign of lies and incitement”.

Until now, most acts of violence have tended to be carried out by opportunistic lone wolves, usually Palestinian teenagers armed with stones or knives or using cars. A spokesman from the group was quoted by the Lebanese outlet, Al Akhabr, as saying: “We believe in Islamic unity and we reject any sectarian discourse”.

Mayor Nir Barkat said the men’s arrival with weapons in Jerusalem meant a further clampdown on access routes from the adjoining Israeli-occupied West Bank should be examined.