Four Arabs stabbed in southern Israel, Jewish suspect held

In a potential sign of efforts to ease tensions, however, a report in the Haaretz daily said Netanyahu had ordered police to bar ministers and lawmakers from visiting the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem.

At a press conference with the country’s top defense officials, Netanyahu tried to calm jittery Israelis.

Israel has beefed up security in response to the violence in Jerusalem, and on Thursday police set up metal detectors at the entrance to Israel’s Old City.

But despite the leaders’ words, violence continues to flare unabated. Jews refer to it as Temple Mount, site of Judaism’s ancient temple and the holiest place in the religion.

The 17-year-old stabber, known to police, said under questioning that he believes all Arabs are terrorists, and that is the reason why he stabbed the Palestinians. The attack left four people lightly wounded, including the soldier.

“This is a mistake”, said Cabinet member Uri Ariel, adding that Israel is caving in to Palestinian terror.

There was also violence in the West Bank city of Ramallah, with video footage showing an Israeli army jeep running over a stone-throwing Palestinian, who was wounded.

Thousands of Israelis, including three ministers in Netanyahu’s own government, demonstrated outside the prime minister’s home on Monday night, demanding tough action. His attacker was killed by police.

She says they were confronted by thousands of rioters who hurled stones and firebombs at them.

It said that forces opened fire at the main instigators to stop their advance.

The violence is not of the intensity of two Palestinian uprisings in the late 1980s and early 2000s but the attacks have prompted talk of a third “intifada”.

One of the assailants was shot and wounded by the man she injured, another was killed by police and a third was arrested unharmed, security officials said.

“In ’67, there was a policeman in every alleyway”, one says to another. Police closed off the intersection where the attack took place.

The border clash the first time since the unrest began several weeks ago that the violence has reached Gaza.

In a statement from Geneva on Thursday, the United Nations human rights chief appealed for calm, warning that “more bloodshed will only lead to more hatred on both sides”.

Israel media reported that the Israeli had stabbed and injured several Palestinians in the town in addition to the Bedouin man. Samri said 4 Arabs were injured.

The clashes have spread to the West Bank, and in recent days, Palestinian assailants have carried out a series of stabbings in Jerusalem and across Israel.

Israeli soldiers patrol a street during an Israeli military raid in the West Bank city of Jenin, Sunday, October 4, 2015.

Two protesters were arrested on suspicion of assaulting police officers.

It remains deeply divided from Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas’s Fatah party.

The hilltop religious site is a frequent flashpoint and its fate is a core issue at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Barkat said Israel’s well-armed citizenry plays a key role in this strategy, stopping attackers quickly in cases when police aren’t around.

The attacker reportedly stabbed the female IDF soldier with a screw driver, took her weapon and ran toward the Azrieli shopping mall.

In Jerusalem, a 25-year-old yeshiva student was seriously wounded in a stabbing near a light-rail station between the Jewish and Arab sections of the city.

The attack comes after a week of numerous Palestinian stabbing attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers.

Over the past week, four Israelis have been killed and five Palestinians, three of them after alleged attacks on Israelis.