Police officer moderately injured in Jerusalem stabbing
Suspected assailant shot dead by security forces outside Old City; victim also hit by friendly fire, report says
Adiv Sterman is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel.
An Israeli police officer was moderately wounded Thursday in a stabbing attack outside the Old City of Jerusalem, security officials said.
The suspected assailant, a 21-year-old resident of the Palestinian West Bank city of Tulkarem, was shot dead when he approached a police car and stabbed the officer, security officials said.
The stabbing occurred on Hanevi’im Street, a main road near Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate, close to the seam line between the eastern and western parts of the city.
Channel 2 reported that aside from wounds sustained to his upper body during the stabbing itself, the police officer suffered injuries to his lower extremities after being hit by bullets fired at the suspected assailant by Israeli security forces.
The officer, a man in his thirties, and a member of the Israel Police’s Special Patrol Unit, was rushed to the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in stable condition and fully conscious, the Magen David Adom emergency medical service said in a statement.
“When we arrived [at the scene] we saw a man about 35 years old lying down and fully conscious,” MDA paramedic Zaki Yahav said. “He suffered from injuries to several limbs and we gave him medical treatment that included stopping the bleeding, and pain medication… All the way to the hospital he talked and interacted with us.”
Earlier Thursday, an Israeli Arab man was shot and moderately injured and an IDF soldier was lightly hurt in an attack near the Hizme checkpoint, north of Jerusalem, the army said. The suspected Palestinian terrorist was shot dead. Paramedics treated the 47-year-old man and the 20-year-old soldier on site before evacuating them to Jerusalem’s Hadassah Hospital in Ein Kerem.
According to the IDF, the gunman stopped at the Hizme checkpoint, exited his vehicle and opened fire. Soldiers shot at the gunman in response, killing the attacker.
Palestinian media reported that the shooter was a 37-year-old Palestinian intelligence officer named Mazen Aribe, from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Abu Dis, a father of four.
Judah Ari Gross contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.