Palestinian shot after alleged Jerusalem stabbing attempt

Israeli security guards shot and wounded a Palestinian after he allegedly tried to stab people waiting at a light railway station in east Jerusalem, police said on Monday.

The attacker, whom police identified as a 35-year-old Palestinian from Shuafat refugee camp in annexed east Jerusalem, was lightly wounded, spokeswoman Luba Samri said in a statement.

A security guard told police the Palestinian had “attacked him from behind” before running towards people waiting at the station, Samri said.

Several other security guards then opened fire at his legs before overpowering him.

Nobody was hurt apart from the Palestinian who was taken to Hadassah hospital in Ein Kerem for treatment, she said.

The incident took place at the light rail stop in Givat HaMivtar close to the settlement suburb of French Hill.

Israel seized east Jerusalem during the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it in a move never recognized by the international community.

The light rail service began operating in 2011 along a 14-kilometer (nine-mile) route which begins at Mount Herzl and passes through west Jerusalem before heading through the east of the city and ending at the settlement suburb of Pisgat Zeev.

Over the past year, there have been a growing number of lone wolf attacks by Palestinians targeting Israelis waiting for the tram.