Tight security at religious observances

Palestinian held after assault on Jerusalem tram

From Jerusalem to Rome, Christians and Jews watchfully mark Easter and Passover.

JERUSALEM — A British exchange student was fatally stabbed Friday by a Palestinian attacker just steps from Jerusalem’s Old City, where thousands of Jews and Christians gathered for religious holidays at one of the busiest times of the year, officials said.

Thousands of people filled parts of the ancient city: Jews to celebrate Passover, which ends Monday, and Christian pilgrims for Good Friday. The attack took place inside a car of the city’s light-rail train not far from the entrance to the Old City’s Christian Quarter.

Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said that as the tram approached City Hall, the Palestinian man pulled a knife out of his bag and stabbed the woman multiple times in the upper body.

An off-duty policeman, who was riding the tram with his family, pulled the emergency brake and charged at the Palestinian attacker, Samri said.

The woman, identified as Hannah Bladon, 21, was treated for stab wounds in a hospital and later died, police said.

Bladon was an exchange student from the University of Birmingham in England, and arrived in Israel in January to spend a semester at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the university said in a statement.

“We extend our deepest condolences to her family and we share in their sorrow,” it said in a statement. “The university condemns such acts of terror that harm innocent people, and especially a student who came to Jerusalem to study and widen her academic horizons.”

Israel’s Shin Bet security agency named the suspected attacker as Jamal Tamimi, 57, from east Jerusalem, a mostly Arab area. They said he had mental health issues and had attempted suicide this year while hospitalized.

Tamimi was arrested at the scene, the report said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu compared the attack to other violent acts around the world in recent weeks.

“Radical Islam strikes at the capitals of the world and, unfortunately, terrorism has hit the capital of Israel — Jerusalem,” he wrote on Facebook.

Israel considers Jerusalem its united capital, and all of its official offices are based there. Palestinians want part of Jerusalem as the capital of any future state.

Friday’s killing is the latest in a spate of stabbing, shooting and vehicular attacks by Palestinians against Israelis over the past 18 months.

Israel has been accused internationally of being too heavy-handed in response to the attacks, which have left nearly 50 Israelis and more than 200 Palestinians dead. Israel says most of the Palestinians killed were attempting to carry out attacks against civilians, soldiers or police officers.

The targeted stabbings and other attacks started in October 2015.

MAHMOUD ILLEAN/AP Emergency personnel treat the injuries of the British woman who was stabbed Friday on a tram in Jerusalem.