Palestinian tries to stab troops in East Jerusalem, is shot dead

A Palestinian man armed with a knife tried to stab a member of the security forces at a checkpoint in the East Jerusalem refugee camp of Shuafat on Friday evening and was shot dead.

Police said there were no Israeli injuries.

“At the barrier of the Shuafat refugee camp Friday evening, a young Arab man approached security forces with a knife and tried to stab one of them,” Israel Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said.

Forces “replied by neutralizing him,” she added, later confirming he had died.

A later statement said a row had broken out during a search of a minibus at the entrance of the camp.

On Tuesday, a Palestinian would-be attacker was also shot dead by Israeli security forces as he attempted to stab a guard at a crossing outside Jerusalem, police said. The guard was unhurt.

That incident occurred at the Qalandiya Crossing north of Jerusalem, which links the capital to the Palestinian refugee camp of the same name.

A spate of stabbings by Palestinian assailants a year ago has waned over the last six months, though sporadic attacks have persisted.

From October 2015 to October 2016, 36 Israelis, two Americans and an Eritrean national were killed in stabbing, car-ramming and shooting attacks.

According to AFP figures, some 238 Palestinians, a Jordanian and a Sudanese migrant were also killed during the violent spurt, most of them in the course of carrying out attacks, Israel says, and many of the others in clashes with troops in the West Bank and at the Gaza border, as well as in Israeli airstrikes in the Strip.