Israeli police kill Palestinian in East Jerusalem raid

Incident comes a day after a Palestinian gunman fired at a bus outside Jerusalem’s Old City, wounding eight, among them US citizens.

Palestinian men inspect a house that was demolished by Jerusalem municipality workers in the mostly Arab East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Silwan on August 3, 2022. AFP

Israeli police shot and killed a Palestinian man who tried to stab officers during a raid in East Jerusalem on Monday, police said.

The officers were conducting a search for illegal weapons in the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Kafr Aqab, the police said, according to AP.

When officers approached the house, the man, armed with a knife, tried to stab them. They fired on the suspect and he was later pronounced dead, police said. Palestinian media identified the man as Mohammed al-Shaham.

The incident came a day after a Palestinian gunman opened fire at a bus outside Jerusalem’s Old City, wounding eight, among them US citizens.

The US State Department condemned the Jerusalem attack late on Sunday, and said at least five of the victims were American citizens.

“We remain in close contact with our Israeli partners and stand firmly with them in the face of this attack,” said State Department spokesman Ned Price.

The Jerusalem violence came after a tense week between Israel and Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. An Egyptian-brokered ceasefire that was reached last week ended three days of fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza in which least 49 Palestinians, including 17 children and 14 militants, were killed.

A day after the ceasefire halted the worst round of Gaza fighting in more than a year, Israeli troops killed three Palestinian militants and wounded dozens in a shootout that erupted during an arrest raid in the city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank.