Two knife attacks as unrest returns to Jerusalem

Also Tuesday morning, Israeli Border Police shot and killed a Palestinian teen from Jenin in the West Bank during an attempted stabbing attack near the eastern Jerusalem village of Abu Dis. The teen reportedly shouted “God is great” in Arabic while attempting to stab guards at a checkpoint.

They shot and wounded one of the boys first, Lerner said.

Ahmed was hit by a auto as they fled, and Hassan was shot dead by Israeli security forces when he allegedly threatened them with a knife.

The Israeli military says soldiers and police have arrested 24 suspected Hamas operatives in the northern West Bank town of Qalqilya.

Since mid-September, 12 Israelis have been killed in Palestinian attacks, a lot of them stabbings.

While other knife and car-ramming assaults have continued in the occupied West Bank amid a weeks-long surge of violence, Tuesday’s attacks were the first in Jerusalem in more than a week.

Twelve Israelis were allegedly killed in lone wolf attacks by Palestinians in the form of stabbing, shooting and vehicular runovers since the beginning of October.

The incident occurred in an area adjacent to Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem. Police fatally shot Hassan and a passing vehicle ran over Manasra.

Israeli authorities are retaining about 20 corpses in a policy meant to discourage attacks and stop funerals from becoming political rallies likely to further inflame emotions.

The Ynet news outlet named the 12 and 13-year-old boys as cousins Moawiyah and Ali Alkam from the refugee camp of Shuafat.

It sparked a propaganda skirmish, with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas claiming he had been “executed” while Israel scrambled to release video of him sitting up and eating in a Jerusalem hospital bed.

Israel promptly accused Abbas – as it has done repeatedly in the past months – of fomenting violence with what it said were incendiary comments.

For their part, Palestinians were enraged by video that surfaced on social media showing Manasra lying in the street, his head bloodied as bystanders curse him and shout “Die!” in Hebrew.

On Monday evening a video appeared on Palestinian websites showing what appeared to be him being questioned by Israeli security officers.

In the video, police officers showed him the security camera footage of the attack.

It was unclear how Palestinian media obtained the video or who filmed the Israeli investigation.

Attorney Lea Tsemel, who is representing Ahmed, said she may contest the investigation based on the manner of questioning seen in the video.