One killed and four injured in terrorist attack in Jerusalem’s Old City

One man was killed and four others were injured in a shooting attack carried out by a Hamas member in Jerusalem’s Old City on Sunday morning.

Magen David Adom rescue services said that two of the injured were civilians and two were border police officers. One man was taken in critical condition to Hadassah-University Medical Center at Jerusalem’s Mount Scopus with head wounds and was later pronounced dead.

A second civilian sustained moderate-to-severe wounds and the border police officers had light injuries.

Two female police officers rushed to the scene near one of the entrances to the Temple Mount and opened fire towards the attacker. Two male border police officers later ran to provide assistance.

The man killed in the attack was later identified as 26-year-old Eliyahu David Kay from Kibbutz Beer Yitzhak. Kay, an immigrant from South Africa was employed as a guide for the Western Wall Heritage Foundation.

A friend of the family described Kay, one of four children, as “gentle and kind.” He had served in the Paratrooper’s Unit as a lone soldier after moving to Israel several years ago. His parents moved to Israel less than a year ago.

“There are no words, his father is in a daze,” he told The Jerusalem Post. “He was such a nice boy, it’s so hard to believe. It was a big dream for the family to move here. They are the most wonderful people, it’s such a shock.”

The two other injured civilians were identified as 46-year-old Rabbi Zeev Katzenelnbogen, a father of eight, and yeshiva student Aaron Yehuda Imergreen, who is hospitalized in serious condition at Shaare Zedek Medical Center.

The attack, that took place at the Chain Gate in the Old City, was the second in less than a week. On Wednesday, two Border Policemen were lightly wounded in a stabbing attack on Hagay street in the Muslim Quarter, near the Ateret Kohanim yeshiva.

“This morning there was a severe shooting attack in the Old City of Jerusalem. We currently have one killed and three wounded,” said Prime Minister Naftali Bennett at the opening of the weekly cabinet meeting.

Bennett, who sent his condolences to the family of the man who passed away and asked to pray for those who were wounded in the attack said that he had received an update from the Public Security Minister Omer Bar-Lev and Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai and that security forces have to increase their alertness in order to thwart further attacks.

“There was a very swift action of our forces, the two policemen who were at the scene and who very quickly neutralized the terrorist. However, this is the second recent terrorist attack in Jerusalem. I have directed the security forces to prepare accordingly and to be alert over concern for copycat attacks. We need to be on heightened alert and prevent further attacks,” he said.

Bar-Lev said that the attacker “moved through the alleys and fired quite a bit. Luckily, the alley was mostly empty because otherwise — heaven forbid — there would have been more casualties. The entire incident lasted 32 or 36 seconds. The actions of the female officers was operationally at the highest possible level.”

Defense Minister Benny Gantz said that he wanted to commend the forces “who acted quickly and resolutely and thwarted a much more severe attack.”

Sending his condolences to the family of the man who was killed and his best wishes to the wounded, he said that Israel “will continue to fight terrorism everywhere it raises its head.”

On Sunday night, Religious Zionist MKs Orit Struk and Simcha Rotman joined with hundreds of youth from a number of right-wing movements in a march and protest from the Jaffa Gate through the market where the terror attack took place to the Western Wall. The protest took place with the approval and escort of the security services.

Police officers at the scene opened fire at the shooter, an East Jerusalem Palestinian, and killed him, according to police. He was later identified as Fadi Abu Shkhaydam, a 42-year-old resident of Shuafat camp in east Jerusalem and a known Hamas member. His wife and son are said to have left the country several days before the attack.

Bar-Lev who arrived at the scene of the attack said that Abu Shkhaydam came to pray at the al-Aqsa mosque on a daily basis and that on Sunday he arrived with a Beretta M12 and started shooting.

“There was a difficult incident this morning that was dealt with quickly and professionally by the men and women of the Israel Police,” Bar Lev said. The terrorist is affiliated with Hamas’ political wing who regularly prayed in the Old City, and whose wife escaped abroad three days ago. He used a standardized weapon that is uncommon in Israel,” he said.

In video from the scene shared on social media, a voice can be heard repeatedly yelling “help” in Hebrew, followed by several bursts of gunfire.

Prior to carrying out the attack, Abu Shehadam, wrote in a Facebook post that “God determines our destiny, but most people do not know. The question of our destiny is a question that God determines, God in His wisdom and greatness, He chooses whoever He wants and presents them to their destiny.”

Hamas quickly took responsibility for the attack, calling it a “heroic operation” and warning “the criminal enemy and its government to stop the attacks on our land and our holy sites. [Israel] will pay a price for the iniquities it commits against Al-Aqsa Mosque, Silwan, Sheikh Jarrah and elsewhere.”

Israeli security forces later raided Shkhaydam’s home and the Rashidiya school where he taught religious studies in east Jerusalem. His relatives including his daughter, brother and nephew were also reportedly arrested by security forces.

Later on Sunday afternoon, an 18-year-old Palestinian stabbed a 67-year-old man in the coastal city of Jaffa, moderately wounding him. The attacker also attempted to stab the man’s wife before fleeing the scene.

The Palestinian, from the West Bank city of Jenin, was arrested an hour after the attack.

While the defense establishment does not think that the attack in Jaffa is connected to the earlier attack in Israel’s capital, security forces have been placed on high alert in order to thwart any copycat attacks.

Source: JP