Prime minister orders tough measures after four Israelis killed in two attacks related to tensions over Jerusalem holy site

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Israel’s prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, promised a “harsh offensive” against Palestinian violence as he flew home from New York to confront an escalating crisis that has seen four Israelis killed in two attacks on the occupied West Bank and in Jerusalem’s Old City.

Amid an unprecedented closure of the Old City to all Palestinians not resident there, thousands of largely ultra-orthodox Jewish mourners gathered in Jerusalem to bury the most recent victims, a rabbi and an off-duty soldier, who were stabbed to death in the Old City on Saturday night.

Ahead of a meeting with security officials on Sunday to decide his response, Netanyahu vowed a “harsh offensive on Palestinian Islamic terror”, according to a statement posted on his Facebook page. He added: “We are in an all-out war against terror.”

After the meeting Netanyahu said he had ordered “additional steps to deter terror and punish terrorists.” He said that includes “fast-tracking the razing of terrorists’ homes”, strengthening security in Jerusalem and the West Bank and “banning those that incite [violence] from the Old City and the Temple Mount”.

The latest spike in violence comes at a time when many Palestinians no longer believe statehood through negotiations with Israel is possible.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Netanyahu with US secretary of state John Kerry in New York on Friday. Photograph: Reuters

Israeli commentators discussed the threat of a third uprising, though Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has so far prevented major outbreaks of violence in the face of growing friction with Netanyahu.

The funerals of the two men killed on Saturday took place as it emerged that one of them, Rabbi Nehemia Lavi, 41, had died after hearing screams in the street and rushing to help Aharon Bennett, 21, the second victim, and his wife and child, who were injured.

Zev Bareiton, a member of Lavi’s extended family who was among the mourners on Sunday, told the Guardian: “He was a marvellous father of seven who lived in the Old City. His 14-year-old son – his eldest – wants everyone to know he was not murdered but died helping to defend others.”



Bareiton said Lavi, an army reserve officer died after wrestling with the attacker, 19-year-old Palestinian Muhannad Halabi, for his knife.

“Israel is at war. There is no security. I want to see the government take steps to protect its citizens,” Bareiton said.

Eulogising Lavi, who was a rabbi for the rightwing settler group Ateret Cohanim, Israeli president Reuven Rivlin said: “Our enemies know how to hurt us, but will not defeat us. The fight against terrorism requires determination and inner fortitude. We will reach the killers of the innocent and pure, and we will reach their inciters and their dispatchers, and will deliver them a stinging blow.”

On Thursday night, an Israeli couple were shot and killed, and their four children injured, in their car by gunmen near the West Bank village of Beit Furik.

Justifying the closure of Jerusalem’s Old City during the second part of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said: “This is a drastic measure that’s being taken in order to make sure there are no further attacks during the Jewish festival, where you can see thousands of people visiting the Old City.”

According to Jerusalem expert Danny Seidemann, it is the first time since Israel captured the Old City in 1967 that it has prevented Jerusalem’s Palestinians from entering.

The recent attacks have come amid mounting clashes on the West Bank and in Jerusalem that on Saturday night saw Israeli troops shoot and wound at least 18 Palestinians in a raid on the Jenin refugee camp.

The 18 were among 100 Palestinians reportedly wounded by Israeli security forces over the weekend in multiple locations.

Tensions have soared in recent weeks over the major holy site in Jerusalem’s Old City known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, the site of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, with Israeli police and Palestinian demonstrators clashing repeatedly.

Halabi – who was shot dead by Israeli police – had posted on Facebook before his attack a message linking it to recent events around the mosque.

“What’s happening to our holy places? What’s happening to our mothers and sisters in the Al-Aqsa mosque? We are not the people who accept humiliation. Our people will revolt.” He also proclaimed: “The third intifada is here.”



At his home in Ramallah, Halabi’s father, Shafiq, said he had no indication what his son – a law student – was about to do but added: “I am proud of my son and what he did: he has done what 1.5 million Muslims have failed to do.



“I dropped him at nine o’clock [on Saturday] at the Muqata complex in Ramallah so that he could catch a bus to the university and everything seemed normal to me, there was no sign that he was behaving abnormally.



Two Israeli men killed in stabbing attack in Jerusalem's old city Read more

“He was studying to become a lawyer and defend those oppressed by the Israeli occupation.”



On Sunday morning, east Jerusalem Palestinian resident Fadi Aloon, aged 19, was shot dead after allegedly attacking a 15-year-old Israeli with a knife. The claim was denied by Aloon’s family and his father, Samir, said he was fleeing from Israelis protesting against the earlier killings.

Aloon had posted “Either martyrdom or victory” on his Facebook page a few hours before his death.

Israeli TV showed footage of Aloon apparently walking along the city’s light rail tracks as bystanders screamed: “Shoot him!”

In the video, a police car arrives on the scene, multiple gunshots are heard and the attacker is then seen lying on the ground.