Two officers wounded at gate to Jerusalem’s Old City, the sixth violent incident in four days

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Two Israeli police officers have been wounded in a stabbing attack outside one of the gates of Jerusalem’s Old City in the sixth violent incident in four days.

The incident, which occurred at about 7.30am (5.30am BST) on Monday, came amid growing fears that a wave of attacks by Palestinians, which began last year but had largely subsided in recent months, appears to be escalating again.

During the attack a female police officer, aged 38, was stabbed in the neck and seriously wounded while a 45-year-old male officer received a stab wound to his upper body.

According to police, the assailant followed the officers as they patrolled outside Herod’s Gate into the Old City before stabbing them from behind.

The male officer reportedly disarmed and shot the attacker, leaving him seriously injured.

“What we know right now is that a terrorist stabbed two police officers in the backs while they were on patrol in the area,” the police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

According to initial reports, the attacker was a Palestinian resident of the east Jerusalem neighbourhood of Ras Alamoud and was in his 20s.

A few hours later a seventh attack was reported in Hebron in the southern West Bank, where two Palestinians were reported shot - one fatally - after allegedly attempting to stab an Israeli soldier close to a key religious site.

According to first reports, two Palestinian residents of the city were brandishing knives close to the site that houses both the Tomb of the Patriarchs and the Ibrahimi mosque.

Israeli security forces had been on increased alert in advance of the Jewish high holidays, which include Yom Kippur.

Four Palestinians, one of whom held Jordanian citizenship, were shot dead over the weekend during assaults on Israelis, according to Israeli authorities.

On Sunday, a Palestinian wounded an Israeli army officer after stabbing him in the chest outside a West Bank settlement before soldiers shot and wounded the attacker.

The increase in violence caused the Israeli military to send troop reinforcements to the West Bank.

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, warned that the potential for violence could rise as the Jewish high holidays approach.

Since last September, Palestinians have killed 34 Israelis and two US citizens in stabbings, car rammings and shootings. About 214 Palestinians were killed during that same period. Israel says the vast majority were attackers.

Palestinians have accused Israel of using excessive force or killing people who were not assailants.

Israel has blamed the violence on incitement by Palestinian political and religious leaders. The Palestinians say it is rooted in nearly 50 years of military occupation and dwindling hopes for independence.