Israelis have been stabbed by Palestinians in two serious attacks in Jerusalem, as both sides brace themselves for major protests , with no end to the violence in sight.

A general strike has been called for Gaza, the West Bank and towns with large populations of Israeli Arabs on Tuesday, followed by a rally in the Galilee town of Sakhnin.

Settlers and members of Israeli rightwing groups are also planning a rally in Jerusalem to protest against Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s handling of the current crisis.

Amid continued attacks and clashes – and claims by Palestinians that some of those shot were victims of trigger-happy policing – an atmosphere of fear and mutual distrust has descended, particularly in Jerusalem, where parents spoke of being afraid of sending their children to school.

Security companies have reported a 50% increase in sales of mace self-defence spray and an increased demand for armed security guards for malls and other public places, while restaurants and markets in areas judged dangerous have emptied.

Israelis are buying guns after recent violence in Israel and the West Bank Guardian

Four Israelis have been killed in 12 days of violence. About 25 Palestinians have died, some of them alleged attackers. Hundreds of Palestinians have been injured.

In the most serious of Monday’s attacks, two Israeli teenagers were stabbed and seriously wounded by two Palestinian teenagers in Pisgat Ze’ev, a settlement on the outskirts of Jerusalem.

Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the Palestinians stabbed a 20-year-old as he walked down a street, then a 14-year-old who was riding his bicycle, wounding him critically.

One of the attackers was apparently hit by a car and wounded. Police said they shot the other assailant and killed him when he ran at officers with a knife raised and ignored calls to stop.

An hour earlier a teenage girl – reportedly a schoolgirl – had tried to stab an Israeli police officer outside the national police headquarters, an area where a string of violent incidents have taken place.

In Monday’s first stabbing, an 18-year-old Palestinian identified as Mustafa al-Khatib attacked a policeman with a knife at an entrance to Jerusalem’s Old City and was shot dead by security forces.

The stabbing of the two teenagers in Pisgat Ze’ev was the third knife attack of the day and the 18th targeting Israelis or Jews since 3 October, most committed by young Palestinians.

According to reports in the Arab media, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has been trying to reduce tensions in recent days by ordering Palestinian media to reduce its coverage of clashes. Attacks on Israelis have continued despite messages from members of the Palestinian leadership saying it does not want to get drawn into a wider escalation.



Netanyahu is also coming under mounting criticism, with a poll suggesting that Israelis would prefer his combative former foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, to be handling the crisis.

Near-daily stabbings have raised speculation that Palestinians could be embarking on another uprising, or intifada as it is called in Arabic, reflecting a new generation’s frustrations over their veteran leadership’s failure to achieve statehood in peace efforts with Israel that collapsed in 2014.



Addressing the Israeli parliament on Monday, Netanyahu showed few signs of retreating from his earlier harsh rhetoric, denying the current wave of violence was being driven by Palestinian frustration but claimed it stemmed from a historic desire to annihilate Jews.

“Terrorism does not come from frustration over the lack of a diplomatic solution,” Netanyahu said.

“A hundred years of terrorism and a hundred years of attempts to destroy the Zionist enterprise, and our enemies haven’t learned ... There is no way to stop the Zionist enterprise.

“This is our home. This is our homeland. Our will to live will defeat our enemies’ desire to kill.”

The violence began on 1 October, when an alleged Hamas cell shot dead a Jewish settler couple in the West Bank in front of their children.

It followed repeated clashes at Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound in September between Israeli security forces and Palestinian youths.

The unrest has spread to the Gaza Strip, which has been hit by three wars with Israel since 2008. Clashes along the border on Friday and Saturday left nine Palestinians dead from Israeli fire.

On Sunday, an Israeli airstrike in retaliation for two rockets fired at Israel demolished a house in northern Gaza, killing a woman and her two-year-old daughter.

Palestinian frustration has mounted with efforts towards statehood at a standstill and Israel’s occupation continuing. A recent opinion poll found a majority favour a return to armed uprising in the absence of peace talks.

Strong feelings apparent at funerals for Palestinians killed during riots or while allegedly carrying out attacks, as well as strong responses to videos of the shootings, have demonstrated widespread anger among Palestinian communities.