Police say they prevented stabbing attack in Jerusalem

Israeli police said they prevented a planned stabbing attack in Jerusalem’s Old City Sunday.

A 25-year-old Palestinian suspect from Hebron was taken into police custody and brought in for interrogation, where he confessed to planning to execute an attack.

He planned to carry out the stabbing after attending prayers on the Temple Mount. Following prayers, he aroused the suspicion of officers on hand, police said in a statement.

After he was questioned by a senior police officer who was called to the scene, the suspect confessed to planning an attack and led officers to Damascus Gate, where he produced a hidden bag that contained a knife and screwdrivers, the statement said.

The incident came amid a string of lone-wolf attacks by Palestinians, in a trend that began in Jerusalem in October but has also spread since to the West Bank.

In May, two Israeli teens were stabbed near Damascus Gate.

During the same month, another Israeli teen was stabbed in Mishor Adumim, outside Jerusalem, after which the attacker escaped to a nearby Palestinian village.

A week earlier, a Palestinian man allegedly tried to stab a security guard at a light rail train stop in Jerusalem before being shot.

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