JERUSALEM (AP) — A young Palestinian man allegedly stabbed an Israeli security guard at a Jerusalem light rail station on Thursday and was then shot and wounded by police.
Police said the attacker is in serious condition while the security guard was lightly wounded.
The late-night incident was the latest in rising violence ahead of a sensitive holiday period.
Earlier Thursday, an Israeli soldier shot a Palestinian man in the Gaza Strip, seriously wounding him, after the man allegedly opened fire at troops. The Palestinian had been taking part in a protest next to the separation fence along the volatile frontier between Israel and Gaza.
The army released a video showing a man firing a pistol toward soldiers before he was shot by a sniper.
Dozens of Palestinians have taken part in similar protests over the past week, prompting Israel to bar some 18,000 Palestinian laborers from entering the country to work.
Also Thursday, Israeli police said they arrested a Palestinian who allegedly carried out a car ramming attack at a checkpoint on the outskirts of Jerusalem. The attack lightly hurt an Israeli security guard, police said.
Next week, Israeli Jews will mark Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, followed by the weeklong Sukkot holiday. Large numbers of Jews are expected to visit Jerusalem's most sensitive holy site during the holiday.
The conflicting claims to the site, known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, lie at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and often spill over into violence.
Under longstanding arrangements, Jews are allowed to visit but not pray at the site, which is home to the Al Aqsa Mosque. But the large number of visits, and scenes of some Jews quietly praying, have raised Palestinian fears that Israel is plotting to change the status quo or take over the site.
