Six Israelis injured in stabbings; Palestinian killed

The man shot the woman, who was taken to a hospital in serious condition.

Four new stabbings wounded Israelis Thursday, and one of the assailants was shot dead.

Israeli and Palestinian officials reportedly met for security talks in the West Bank on Tuesday evening, and there have been global calls for calm.

BAZ RATNER/REUTERS Israeli police officers patrol near the scene of the stabbing attack.

The stabbing was the latest in a series of attacks against Israelis in recent years.

Human Rights Watch said Thursday that Israeli rules of engagement vis-à-vis unarmed protesters violated worldwide law, noting that a 13-year-old Palestinian boy had been killed when security forces fired on a crowd in the West Bank city of Bethlehem.

Two Palestinians have been shot dead and scores injured in clashes with security services, triggering fears of escalation.

They included an Israeli settler couple gunned down in their vehicle as they rode with their children on a West Bank road, and a Palestinian schoolboy fatally struck by a bullet fired by Israeli troops to repel a violent protest. Israeli forces responded with tear gas and stun grenades.

In a backlash from Israeli parliamentarians to the ruling that would allow Israeli-Arab politicians to visit the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, Netanyahu extended the ban to Arab politicians early Thursday.

That site has been at the heart of the recent tensions.

While Muslims consider the site to be the spot where Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven, Jews take it to be the site of two Jewish biblical temples.

Many Palestinians believe that Israel is trying to expand a Jewish presence at the site.

Muslim men under the age of 50 will be prevented from attending prayers at what they call the Noble Sanctuary. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has barred all Cabinet ministers and lawmakers from visiting a sensitive Jerusalem holy site, fearing any high-profile spectacle could further enflame tensions that have gripped the country for weeks, an Israeli official said Thursday.

Meanwhile, the mayor of Jerusalem on Thursday stoked a controversy by asking Israeli residents of the holy city to carry their weapons to foil any possible terrorist attacks from Palestinians.

The attacks were initially confined to east Jerusalem and the West Bank, territory seized by Israel in the 1967 war and claimed by the Palestinians for their future state.

Police spokeswoman Luba Samri says civilians apprehended the attacker and police later detained him.

On Wednesday, there were six attacks in which 9 Israelis were injured, Israel Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

Netanyahu warned Israelis to be on “maximum alert” for more violence and trouble, after a particularly bloody day on Wednesday.

Netanyahu is under increasing pressure from his own governing coalition to address the violence with a tough crackdown and increased settlement activity. He expressed support, however, for the young protestors who recently barricaded themselves in the al Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount and clashed with police. The suspect then fled into a residential building, where he followed a local woman into her apartment before police forces arrived and shot and killed him.