Palestinian girl shot by Jewish settler in East Jerusalem

In two attacks on Thursday, an Israeli man was stabbed in the neck in Jerusalem, and five were injured, including a female Israeli soldier, in a stabbing attack in Tel Aviv, the Times of Israel reported.

“Gaza is fully ready”, he added, saying all Palestinians should defend the Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem, the focus of tension with Israel.

Also Thursday, a Palestinian stabbed an ultra-Orthodox Jewish student, 25, in Jerusalem, wounding him seriously, police said.

The statement by PA government spokesman Ihab Bseiso did not say that the two Palestinian men were killed by Israeli security services following attacks on Jewish Israelis.

Four Israelis have been killed in stabbings in Jerusalem and a drive-by shooting in the occupied West Bank in the past week.

“I think it’s important that gun carriers who are skilled and have experience carry their weapons with them, especially given the [current] tension”, Barkat told Israel’s Army Radio.

Hospital officials put the death toll at three, with 14 others wounded. Many Palestinians believe Israel is trying to take over the complex, which Jews also revere.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has banned Israeli cabinet ministers and legislators from visiting a sensitive Jerusalem holy site where rising tensions have spilled over into a wave of Palestinian attacks.

“I want to commend the courage and composure displayed by Israel’s citizens in recent days, as well as today in Jerusalem and Kiryat Gat”, Netanyahu stated.

He insisted the Palestinians are not interested in a further escalation but that his “hands are with those who are protecting Al-Aqsa mosque”.

The clashes coincide with celebrations for the Jewish New Year, or Rosh Hashanah, often a tense period because of increased visits by Jews to the compound, which they call the Temple Mount.

The attacks have alarmed authorities and unsettled Israelis, with Jerusalem’s mayor and the deputy defense minister urging people with gun licenses to carry their weapons.

Police detained the suspected attacker, a Palestinian man from the Hebron area of the West Bank. He told Channel 10 TV that two of the victims worked for City Hall, and that passers-by quickly rushed to help the wounded Arabs and provided first aid. The attacker’s identity was not immediately known.

Leader of the Opposition Isaac Herzog said the West Bank should be sealed until the wave of violence that Israel is now facing subsides.

But Palestinians are enraged at the perceived incursion against their core beliefs, and the new curbs may have come too late to undo the damage of repeated clamouring by right-wing politicians for Jewish prayer at the site.

Disguised as Palestinian protesters, the Israeli infiltrating team was caught on camera by several journalists in the vicinity of the illegally-built Israeli settlement of Beit El near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday. Netanyahu has stated that he is committed to keeping the “status quo” at Temple Mount.