A Palestinian teenager was killed by an Israeli policeman on Wednesday after wounding a civilian with a kitchen knife in Jerusalem, according to Israeli police.
The attack, described as a “terrorist attack” by the police, took place around 9:00 p.m. (6:00 p.m. GMT) at the Shivtei Israel light rail station, on the edge of West and East Jerusalem.
The Magen David Adom, Israel’s equivalent of the Red Cross, said it treated a man in his 25s with a back injury, who was rushed to a hospital.
The injured is in “stable” condition and “receiving treatment”, according to a statement from Shaare Tsedek Hospital. Questioned by AFP, the police were unable to confirm his nationality.
The 14-year-old assailant from Beit Hanina, a predominantly Palestinian area in East Jerusalem, part of the Holy City occupied and annexed by Israel, was killed at the scene of the attack, AFP told AFP. Dean Elsdunne, Israeli police spokesman.
On the spot, while many ultra-Orthodox Jews in black suits and white shirts watched the massive deployment of security forces, an AFP photographer saw the body of the assailant lying on the ground under a survival blanket
A policeman who was on board a tram saw the attack “quickly got off” the tram and “shot the terrorist”, Mr Elsdunne said.
In a statement, Hamas, the ruling Palestinian Islamist movement in Gaza, called the attack on the Shivtei Israel station a “heroic operation”.
Since the beginning of the year, violence linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has claimed the lives of at least 223 Palestinians, 31 Israelis, a Ukrainian and an Italian, according to an AFP count established from official sources.
These statistics include, on the Palestinian side, combatants and civilians, and on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, including three members of the Arab minority.
30/08/2023 22:54:05 – Jerusalem (AFP) – © 2023 AFP