Three Palestinians killed, two Israeli officers wounded in Damascus Gate attack

Three Palestinians were shot dead Wednesday after carrying out an attack near the Damascus Gate in occupied East Jerusalem’s Old City that left two Israeli officers critically injured, Israeli police said.

Israeli police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld told Ma’an that “three attackers were shot dead at the scene” by Israeli Border Police after carrying out an attack with knives and an automatic weapon.

The three Palestinian youths had approached the Damascus Gate and were noticed by Israeli Border Police officers stationed in the area. One of the youth showed their identification card to the officers when another youth pulled out a gun and opened fire, injuring the two female officers.

The two officers, both 20 years old, were transferred to the hospital in critical condition.

Explosive devices were also found on the site, which was cordoned off following the attack for investigation, Rosenfeld said, adding that Israeli forces detonated the explosives on scene.

Witnesses told Ma’an that Israeli forces fired stun grenades and pepper spray near the Salah al-Deen Street and Al-Sultan Suliman streets nearby the Damascus Gate to prevent Palestinians in the area from approaching the area.

Witnesses added the forces stopped a group of people and inspected them in “humiliating” ways.

Initial reports from social media suggested the three youth were from the village of Qabatiya near the northern occupied West Bank city of Jenin.

Israeli police were looking into the identity of the three.

A Palestinian Authority police officer was shot dead earlier this week after opening fire on Israeli soldiers stationed at an Israeli military checkpoint near the Beit El settlement near Ramallah in the West Bank.

The attack came shortly after a 17-year-old Israeli was stabbed and injured in the Old City on Saturday. Israeli police reported that a 16-year-old Palestinian from an East Jerusalem neighborhood later turned himself in claiming responsibility for the attack.

A wave of attacks carried out by Palestinian individuals on Israeli military and civilians initially sparked in occupied East Jerusalem in October before spreading to the West Bank.

The Old City had maintained a brief period of relative quiet last month, with the last deadly attack in the area taking place on Dec. 23.

Two Palestinians from the Qalandiya refugee camp were shot dead during the incident, after carrying out a stabbing attack outside of the Old City’s Jaffa Gate.

The attack left one Israeli killed and another injured, while Israeli media reported that a third Israeli was accidentally shot at the scene by Israeli Border Police and later succumbed to their wounds.

Efforts by actors in the international community to quell recent violence and return Israeli and Palestinian leadership to negotiations have so far failed. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon meanwhile last month criticized Israeli policy, saying that it was "human nature" for Palestinians to react violently to Israel's nearly 50-year military occupation.

Moon condemned the series of violent attacks carried out by Palestinians in recent months, but said that Israeli security measures were failing to "address the profound sense of alienation and despair driving some Palestinians -- especially young people."