Government fears copycat attacks after Israeli tour guide is killed by Palestinian gunman in Jerusalem
An Israeli tour guide was killed in Jerusalem yesterday before police shot dead a Palestinian gunman, in a rare lethal attack in the heart of the Old City.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said security forces needed to be on alert for copycat attacks following the incident at Chain Gate, an entryway to the Al Aqsa Mosque compound.
Two other civilians and two police officers were wounded, security forces said.
Dozens of Israeli police officers gathered at the scene after the shooting, while first responders and security forces took the attacker’s body away on a stretcher.
The Israeli victim, Eliyahu Kay, was a guide working at the nearby Western Wall, the holiest site at which Jews can pray. He had emigrated from South Africa, the Western Wall Heritage Foundation said.
Kay suffered a severe head injury and was transferred to Jerusalem’s Hadassah University Medical Centre, where he was pronounced dead, a hospital spokeswoman said.
The other wounded were treated for minor or moderate injuries.
Police identified the attacker as a man “in his forties, a resident of East Jerusalem”.
Hamas, the militant group that rules Gaza, claimed the gunman as a leader of the movement.
They identified him as Fadi Mahmoud Abu Shukheidim and praised his “heroic operation”.
After initially cordoning off the area, police reopened the street to passers-by and there was not a visibly heightened security presence in the Old City.
Mr Bennett said he had been briefed by security officials since the shooting.
“I have directed the security forces to prepare accordingly and be alert, also, over concern for copycat attacks,” he said at the start of a weekly Cabinet meeting.
“We need to be on heightened alert and prevent future attacks.”
The shooting yesterday was the first time since March 2018 that an Israeli was killed by a Palestinian in the Old City, according to government records.
Since then, police have responded to some non-fatal attacks by shooting dead an alleged assailant.
The most recent such incident occurred on Wednesday, when security forces killed a 16-year-old Palestinian.
The boy stabbed two officers, who were lightly and moderately wounded, police said.
Israel has occupied East Jerusalem, which includes the Old City, since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
As well as the Western Wall and Al Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam, the Old City is home to important Christian sites such as the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
The Palestinians view East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state, while Israel claims the whole city as its capital.