On Sunday evening, Israeli police fatally shot an attacker who wounded a police officer with a sharp object near the entrance to the Old City of Jerusalem. The incident was reported by Israeli authorities, according to AFP.
“A police officer from the border guard unit was lightly wounded by a blunt object near the Damascus Gate in East Jerusalem, a sector occupied and annexed by Israel,” the police stated in a communiqué.
The attacker “was neutralized” while attempting to flee into the Old City, the statement added. A police spokesperson later confirmed to AFP that the assailant had died.
Magen David Adom, Israel’s equivalent of the Red Cross, reported that their medics treated a man in his 20s, who had been lightly injured by a stabbing to the upper body.
Jerusalem, a holy city for the three major monotheistic religions, and especially the Old City, remains a flashpoint in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Tensions between Palestinians and Israeli Jews frequently arise in the area.
Israel claims Jerusalem as its “unified and indivisible” capital, but the United Nations considers the annexation of East Jerusalem illegal. Palestinians seek to establish the city as the capital of a future independent state.
