Jerusalem: An Israeli police officer stabbed a Turkish citizen to death in the Old City, the attacker was neutralized

An Israeli police officer was stabbed on Tuesday by a 34-year-old Turkish national in Jerusalem’s Old City, Israeli police said. The Magen David Adom (MDA) emergency service said the wounded 30-year-old police officer was taken to hospital in “moderate condition.” The attacker was shot dead, the MDA added.

“A terrorist armed with a knife arrived in the Old City of Jerusalem, on the street leading to Herod’s Gate, rushed at a police officer and stabbed him,” police said in a statement, adding that another police officer present “neutralized the attacker.”

According to Israeli media outlet Haaretz, the attacker, originally from Turkey, arrived in Israel 72 hours before the attack, likely as a tourist.

The number of attacks has increased since October 7

There have been several stabbing attacks in Israel in recent weeks, following nearly seven months of fighting and almost daily bombings in the Gaza Strip. On April 26, an 18-year-old girl was seriously wounded in a Tel Aviv suburb and her attacker was shot dead. Last November, an Israeli soldier was also seriously wounded outside a police station in East Jerusalem. The attacker was killed.

Tuesday’s new attack comes as long-term mediation between Qatar and Egypt appears to be bearing fruit and raising hopes of a truce between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas over the release of a number of hostages held in the Gaza Strip.

The Islamist movement carried out an unprecedented attack in southern Israel on October 7, killing 1,170 people, mostly civilians, an AFP report said, based on official Israeli figures. According to Israeli officials, some 250 people were kidnapped on the day of the attack and 129 remain captive in the Gaza Strip, 34 of whom died.

In response, Israel vowed to destroy Hamas, which seized power in the Gaza Strip in 2007, and launched an offensive that has so far killed 34,535 people, mostly civilians, according to the Islamist movement’s health ministry.