Israeli tour guide shot to death by Palestinian at sacred Jerusalem site

JERUSALEM — A Palestinian teacher shot dead an Israeli tour guide near the holiest site in Jerusalem on Sunday morning, Israeli officials said. It was the first killing of a Jewish Israeli civilian by a Palestinian gunman since May.

Militant Islamist group Hamas said the gunman, armed with an automatic weapon, was a senior member of its movement in East Jerusalem.

The attack immediately revived calls from right-wing Israelis to install metal detectors near the entrances to the holy site — known as the Temple Mount to Jews and as the Noble Sanctuary or the Aqsa Mosque compound to Muslims — a proposal that set off deadly unrest among Palestinians when Israel last tried to implement the idea in 2017. Such a plan would also risk aggravating tensions within the fragile Israeli governing coalition, a diverse alliance that includes Jewish right-wing parties and an Arab group.

Tensions over the site, sacred to Jews and Muslims, played a major role in the prelude to an 11-day war between Israel and Hamas this year.

The gunman in the attack Sunday opened fire on at least three civilians and two police officers shortly after 9 a.m. in an alley outside the site. One civilian was killed by a shot to the head, a second civilian was wounded, and two police officers and a third civilian were slightly hurt, according to Magen David Adom, the Israeli affiliate of the International Red Cross.

The man killed was later named by police as Eliyahu Kay, a tour guide who was on his way to work at the Western Wall, the last remaining part of an ancient Jewish temple that was destroyed in antiquity.

The attacker was shot dead by security officers seconds after the assault, according to Omer Bar Lev, an Israeli minister who oversees the police.

The gunman was named in the Israeli and Palestinian news media as Fadi Abu Shkhaydem, 42, a teacher from a Palestinian district in East Jerusalem.