Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu
Jerusalem (AFP) – Israel took the rare and drastic step of barring Palestinians from Jerusalem’s Old City on Sunday as tensions mounted following attacks that killed two Israelis and wounded a child.
The restrictions will be in place for two days, with only Israelis, tourists, residents of the area, business owners and students allowed, police said.
Worship at the sensitive Al-Aqsa mosque compound will be restricted to Old City residents and Arab Israelis, and limited to men aged 50 and above. There will be no age restrictions on women. They will be allowed to enter through one specific gate.
There was no immediate reaction from Palestinian officials.
Saturday’s attacks came with Israeli security forces already on alert after recent clashes at the Al-Aqsa compound and surrounding Old City, as well as the murder in the West Bank of a Jewish settler couple in front of their young children.
Police at the scene of the attack
On Saturday night, a Palestinian said to be an Islamist militant killed two Israeli men and wounded a woman and a toddler in a knife and gun attack in the Old City. Police shot dead the attacker.
In a separate incident on Saturday, a Palestinian man stabbed a passerby in west Jerusalem before being shot dead by police while he was fleeing the scene. The victim was wounded, police said.
Clashes also broke out overnight around a checkpoint leading to the occupied West Bank involving Palestinians, Israeli settlers and Israeli security forces, with sporadic gunfire heard in the area.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was to return from the United States on Sunday and hold consultations with Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon. His security cabinet is also to meet on Monday, after the end of the Jewish Sukkot holiday, Israeli media reported.
There have been fears that the sporadic violence could spin …Read More
Source:: PM Newspaper
