Cop moderately hurt in Jerusalem stabbing; assailant, a Turkish visitor, shot dead
34-year-old foreign national knifes Border Police officer in Old City; he had entered Israel via Jordan a day earlier
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
A police officer was moderately wounded in a stabbing attack in Jerusalem’s Old City, authorities said Tuesday. The assailant, a Turkish national, was shot dead.
According to police, the Turkish man rushed at a Border Police cop near the Herod’s Gate entrance and stabbed him in the upper body.
The wounded man was taken by the Magen David Adom ambulance service to Shaare Zedek Medical Center in the capital, which said he was conscious and in moderate condition.
The officer who was stabbed and another cop in the area shot and killed the assailant, police added.
The suspect was later named as Hasan Saklanan, 34. Defense sources said he entered Israel legally on Monday as a visitor, via the Jordan River Crossing with Jordan.
It is extremely rare for a foreign national to carry out an attack in Israel, with no such incidents having taken place in recent memory.
A large number of forces, including police’s Jerusalem District chief Doron Turgeman, were at the scene holding an assessment and collecting evidence, law enforcement officials said.
Police later published surveillance camera footage of the attack, showing Saklanan walking behind two police officers before pulling out a knife and trying to stab one of them in the head.
The stabber and the wounded cop are seen in a struggle, as the second officer works to pull the attacker away.
After the wounded officer manages to break free from the assailant, both he and the second cop open fire at Saklanan, killing him.
Warning: Graphic
The attack comes a week after three people were lightly wounded in a car-ramming terror attack at two separate locations in Jerusalem. The two alleged perpetrators, Palestinian teenagers, were captured after a brief manhunt.
Tensions in Israel and the West Bank have soared since October 7, when terrorists burst through the Gaza border into Israel in a Hamas-led attack, killing some 1,200 people and seizing 253 hostages.