Israeli security personnel at the scene of the attack. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Three Israelis were seriously wounded in another Palestinian terror attack in the Old City of Jerusalem. Two victims succumbed to their wounds in hospital.
Two Palestinian terrorists stabbed and critically wounded three Israeli men at the Old City’s Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem on Wednesday afternoon. Border policewomen patrolling the area shot the terrorists.
Ofer Ben Ari, a 46-year-old married father of two, was the first to succumb to his wounds after undergoing surgery at Shaare Zedek Medical Center.
The second victim, 45-year old Rabbi Reuven Biermacher, was critically wounded and required resuscitation at the scene before being transported to Hadassah Ein Kerem, where he was pronounced dead soon after. He is survived by a wife and seven children.
The third, who was also critically injured, is in stable but serious condition after being operated on at Shaare Zedek.
Police are investigating the possibility that one of the victims was erroneously hit by police gunfire during the attack.
The terrorists have been identified by Palestinian media as Anan Abu Habsah and Issa Assaf from Qalandiya; reports indicate that they had been imprisoned for acts of terror. One terrorist was shot and killed by security forces present at the scene, while the other was seriously wounded by gunfire and died soon afterwards.
Jerusalem District Police Spokesman lauded the security forces for their actions, which he said prevented a much larger attack.
Jerusalem’s Old City has seen several Palestinian terror attacks against Israelis recent months, and police have recently been successful in thwarting several of them.
In the meantime, IDF forces continued to operate against Palestinian terror targets in Judea and Samaria.
Late Tuesday night security forces arrested 17 terror suspects. Two of the suspects are members of the Hamas terror organization. The others are accused of violent attacks on Israeli civilians and security personnel.
The forces also uncovered weapons caches which included a Kalashnikov assault rifle, a hunting rifle, a rifle scope and other military equipment.
These incidents were the latest in a long series of almost-daily Palestinian terror attacks – some more than once a day – that have plagued Israelis over the course of three months, claiming the lives of 21 victims and wounding some 220.
By: Max Gelber, United with Israel