Security forces foil planned stabbing in Jerusalem

Security forces thwarted a terror attack in Jerusalem on Thursday afternoon, when they arrested a Palestinian minor in possession of a knife who admitted during interrogation that he planned to carry out a stabbing, Israel Police said in a statement

Police said the 16-year-old, a resident of the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Shuafat, aroused the suspicions of Border Police troops near his local Jerusalem Light Rail station before boarding a bus in the direction of Damascus Gate in the Old City.

Security forces boarded the bus as well and took the minor into custody, discovering a butterfly knife among his possessions.

In an initial interrogation of the suspect, police said he admitted to planning to use the knife in a stabbing attack against police officers.

This was the second foiled attack in less than a week, after security forces on Saturday arrested a Palestinian suspect in possession of an Israel Police uniform who was allegedly planning an attack.

The 36-year-old suspect from the West Bank city of Bethlehem was arrested by Border Police officers as he attempted to cross the Jerusalem-area Mishor Adumin checkpoint in a taxi on Saturday. He was taken into custody for questioning.

Police said the suspect was on his way to carry out a terror attack against Israelis when he was arrested. An intelligence tip-off led authorities to his whereabouts, the statement said.

The would-be attacker was identified as the suspect by the forces patrolling the checkpoint, and was found to be concealing an Israel Police uniform that police said he planned to use in his attack.

“Thanks to precise intelligence, determination and the vigilance of our security forces, we were able to make the arrest before the suspect was able to carry out his plans,” said the commander of the Border Police unit who made the arrest.

The foiled attacks are the latest incident in a spate of terror attacks and violence that have included stabbings, car-rammings, shootings and a suicide bombing over the past seven months. The violence has claimed the lives of 29 Israelis and four foreign nationals. Some 200 Palestinians have also been killed for the same period, the majority of then while carrying out attacks against Israeli civilians or soldiers, and the rest during clashes with troops, according to the Israeli army.