Five dead in terror shooting at famous holy site
THREE PALESTINIAN attackers have opened fire on Israeli police from inside a major Jerusalem holy site, killing two officers before being shot dead, officials said.
The rare attack from within the contested shrine, known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount, raises new concerns about an escalation of violence.
After the attack, Israel closed the site for further weapons sweeps. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said it will reopen gradually, after security evaluations tomorrow.
The rare closure meant a cancellation of noon prayers, which typically draw tens of thousands of Muslims from Israel and the Israeli-occupied West Bank to the compound on Fridays.
Unable to reach the shrine, some of the faithful performed prayers in the streets near Jerusalem’s walled Old City and then dispersed quietly.
The sacred compound, popular with tourists, is the holiest site in Judaism and the third-holiest in Islam, after Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia.
The shooting was the latest in a wave of Palestinian attacks that erupted in 2015, in part over tensions at the Jerusalem holy site. Involvement by Arab Israelis in such attacks has also been rare.
Israeli police chief Roni Alsheikh said the weapons used had been brought into the holy compound and the attackers opened fire on the Israeli officers from inside the site. In response “a police force charged at the terrorists, killed two and wounded the third”.
The wounded assailant used a knife to attack an officer checking him for explosives and was killed, the police chief said.
Mr Alsheikh said such an attack is “without precedent” at the holy site and an “incident of the highest severity”.
The senior Muslim cleric of the Holy Land, Mohammed Hussein, was detained by police several hours after the shooting, according to his son. Omar Hussein said his father, who is based at the shrine, was taken to a police station in the Old City. He was released a few hours later.
Meanwhile, a relative said the three assailants were from the Jabareen clan – two 19-year-olds and a 29-year-old.
They were devout Muslims and frequently visited the shrine, travelling by bus from their homes in northern Israel, the relative said.
The younger men belonged to a kick-boxing club and the older one was unemployed because of health problems, Yehiyeh Jabareen said.
The two policemen killed were members of Israel’s Druze community, followers of a secretive offshoot of Islam. Unlike the majority of their fellow Arabs in Israel, many Druze serve in the Israeli security forces.
In other violence, Palestinian medical officials said an 18-yearold was killed in clashes near the West Bank town of Bethlehem after Palestinians hurled explosives and blocks at soldiers.