Police officer moderately hurt in East Jerusalem stabbing; assailant arrested

A police officer was moderately hurt in a suspected stabbing attack in East Jerusalem’s Ras al-Amud neighborhood on Sunday afternoon, police and medics said.

The Magen David Adom emergency service said its medics took the officer to Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center with stab wounds in his upper body.

Another officer, who was slightly hurt in his hand in the incident, was treated at the scene, MDA said.

The alleged attacker, 23, from the nearby Jabel Mukaber neighborhood, initially fled the scene. Several hours later, police said they detained the man at the home of a relative in the adjacent neighborhood, but a man claiming to be the suspect’s brother told reporters that he turned the suspect in.

The apparent relative also claimed that the incident was a brawl, and not a terror attack as police have charged.

The stabbing came after officers entered the Palestinian neighborhood with firefighters to extinguish a car that was set on fire, officials said.

Police said officers were attacked by several suspects, one of whom committed the stabbing. Two men allegedly involved in the incident were also detained, police said. It was not immediately clear what sort of involvement they had.

⭕️ قوات الاحتلال تعتدي على شاب في رأس العامود بالقدس المحتلة pic.twitter.com/s2ojlMR5lr

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Video from the scene showed a clash between officers and locals, but it was unclear if it was showing the arrest of the two suspects, or the attack itself.

The alleged attack came after an Israeli man was stabbed and lightly hurt when he was out jogging on Saturday morning on Jerusalem’s Hebron Road.

Earlier this month there were several attacks in Jerusalem’s Old City, and in a nearby West Bank town.

Masked police officers at the scene of a suspected stabbing attack in East Jerusalem’s Ras al-Amud, March 20, 2022. (Israel Police)

Public Security Minister Omer Barlev, who oversees the police, said on Sunday in response to recent stabbings that they are “another example of how despicable terrorists and extremists will continue to try and undermine our attempts to celebrate the spring holidays for the first time in two years without restrictions.”

Barlev said officers will remain “determined and strong” amid the string of attacks.

Officials have warned of a possible flare-up of violence during Ramadan next month.

Tensions have risen after nine Palestinians were killed in violent confrontations with Israeli troops in recent weeks, including in gun battles with Israeli soldiers in the West Bank during raids, as well as during attempted attacks.