Police say officers thwarted Jerusalem stabbing attack

Israel Police said Tuesday they had foiled a stabbing attack in Jerusalem planned by a West Bank resident a day earlier. They said the suspect, who was in Israel illegally, was intercepted before he reached his target, security forces at the Damascus Gate of the Old City in Jerusalem.

Border Police officers routinely stopped and combed a bus from an East Jerusalem transport company as it traveled through the A-Tur neighborhood, police said. They became suspicious of a Palestinian passenger, and discovered that he was a 19-year-old resident of the West Bank who did not have a permit to be inside Israel.

Police arrested the suspect and took him for questioning, during which he admitted he was heading to the Damascus Gate area, where he planned to purchase a knife with cash he was carrying and then attack security forces.

“The professionalism and alertness of the police and troops … led to the thwarting of injury to innocent people and security forces, and the arrest of a West Bank resident,” police said in a statement.

The suspect was remanded in custody until Wednesday, police said.