One Israeli was killed in the nationalistically motivated violence.
By Jonathan Hessen and Erin Viner
22-year-old IDF First Sergeant Asil Suead was murdered while manning the Shuafat crossing between the West Bank district of Judea and the periphery of Jerusalem by a knife-wielding Palestinian.
The fallen officer, a a member of a Bedouin tribe in northern Israel, was fatally stabbed in the head after boarding a bus to check identification and authorization of passengers into the Israeli capital.
According to Israel Border Police Assistant Commissioner Amram Nidam, an on-site civilian security guard inadvertently further injured Suead after opening fire on the assailant.
The First Sergeant was evacuated in critical condition to an area hospital, where he later succumbed to his injuries.
The 13-year-old Palestinian assailant was captured and taken into custody.
In a separate attack earlier, a 14-year-old Palestinian stabbed and wounded a 17-year-old Israeli teenager near the Chain Gate entrance into the Old City; before fleeing the crime scene.
Following an ensuing manhunt by Israeli security forces, the suspect was discovered hiding on the Temple Mount holy site.
The injured Israeli teenager was given emergency medical care near the Western Wall, prior to being rushed to hospital in light-to-moderate condition.
According to separate reports covered by TV7 in recent months, Arab teenagers primarily from east Jerusalem have become the target audience for incitement campaigns by the Islamist Hamas and the Iranian-proxy Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terror groups; most frequently via the Chinese-owned TikTok platform.
Israel has undertaken extensive efforts to counter Palestinian terrorism.
It was announced earlier today that in response to the murderous terrorist attacks in Jerusalem, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and the Jerusalem municipality have agreed on a joint plan to increase the sense of personal security of residents of the city. The plan includes reinforcing security and police units, concentrating intelligence and operational efforts and improving civilian protection particularly at bus stops in the city.
“In light of the recent spate of difficult incidents, throughout the country in general and in the capital in particular, my government has been working day and night in order to restore the sense of security to the citizens of the State of Israel,” said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier today.
“As part of this, and pursuant to Security Cabinet decisions and additional actions that we have taken, we have decided to immediately reinforce hundreds of bus stops that are defined as high priority in what is merely the first stage in reinforcing all bus stops in Jerusalem,” he added.
Arab terrorists have long selected crowded Israeli bus stops as targets in attempts to inflict the highest possible number of casualties.
3 Israelis – including two children, who were brothers – were murdered last Friday when a Palestinian terrorist deliberately rammed his vehicle into them as they waited at a Jerusalem stop with their father, who was critically injured during the attack.
This past November, two Israelis were killed and 25 others injured in two separate bombings at bus stops in the Israeli capital.
Funds have already been allocated for the immediate reinforcement of 300 bus stops, while the remaining 700 will be bolstered during the next stage in the near future.
Expressing gratitude to Prime Minister Netanyahu and the PMO staff for the rapid response in finding a solution for capital residents, Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion pledged that the work to safeguard the stops will begin immediately.