JERUSALEM—Jerusalem’s mayor on Thursday urged citizens with a gun license to carry their weapons at all times as a wave of terror attacks continued in the city and spread to Tel Aviv and northern Israel.

"In many cases," said Mayor Nir Barkat, "those who neutralize terrorists in times like these are citizens, not police officers. I urge people who are allowed to carry weapons and are experienced in using them to carry their guns with them."

The mayor revealed that he himself carries a Glock 23 handgun.

Tel Aviv witnessed its first terror incident in the current round of attacks Thursday when a Palestinian stabbed with a screwdriver and lightly injured five people, including a woman soldier, before being shot dead by an off duty soldier. Police said the assailant was a West Bank resident who worked at a construction site in Tel Aviv.

A soldier was moderately wounded in a stabbing attack in the northern Israeli city of Afula. The West Bank assailant in that case was captured by civilians.

A 25-year-old rabbinical student was stabbed in Jerusalem in the neck and seriously injured as he waited at a tram stop. Passersby overpowered the assailant, who was arrested. Another Israeli was stabbed in the back and seriously injured at the Jewish settlement of Kiryat Arba near Hebron. The assailant got away but a large-scale manhunt was set in motion.

Many Israeli cars were reported damaged in rock throwing incidents throughout the West Bank Thursday, but there were no injuries.

The Palestinian Authority Health Department reported that six Palestinians have been killed and hundreds wounded in the past week’s clashes with security forces. At least six Palestinians were reported wounded Thursday by rounds from low-velocity sniper rifles which security forces have been authorized to use against riot ringleaders.

Meanwhile, both Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attempted to tamp down the fires in their respective camps. Netanyahu ordered police at the entrance to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem to prevent ministers and Knesset members from visiting it in order not to increase Arab unrest.

"The intention is to cool the atmosphere," said a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s office. The ban was at first imposed only on Jewish parliamentarians, but when rightwing leaders protested that they were being discriminated against, the ban was extended to Arab Knesset members as well.

Abbas told Palestinian business leaders in the West Bank capital of Ramallah that he would not be "dragged" into further violence with Israel and that he is committed to "peaceful popular resistance". He expressed support, however, for the young protestors who recently barricaded themselves in the al Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount and clashed with police.

While right-wing ministers, including Netanyahu, have accused Abbas of inciting violence. The assessment of Israeli military intelligence, according to the Israeli online news site, Ynet, is that he is seeking to curb violence. He has instructed his security services to prevent terror attacks against Israelis and to hold back the violence on the streets.

The Palestinian security services are continuing close coordination with their Israeli counterparts, say Israeli sources. However, they have not been able to halt "lone wolf" attacks by individuals.

Israeli police on Thursday installed metal detectors at the gates to the Old City and elsewhere in East Jerusalem to warn of persons carrying knives or guns.