2 Palestinians killed following stabbing attack in Jerusalem

Orthodox Jews look at an ambulance as it evacuate the body of a Palestinian assailant form a stabbing attack site outside Jerusalem’s Old City, Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2015. Israeli police say one Palestinian assailant was killed and a second was badly wounded after a stabbing attack on Israelis outside Jerusalem's Old City. Police spokeswoman Luba Samri says the two Palestinians attacked Jewish pedestrians outside the city's Jaffa Gate. Samri says police shot both assailants. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit) Orthodox Jews look at an ambulance as it evacuate the body of a Palestinian assailant form a stabbing attack site outside Jerusalem’s Old City, Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2015. Israeli police say one Palestinian assailant was killed and a second was badly wounded after a stabbing attack on Israelis outside Jerusalem's Old City. Police spokeswoman Luba Samri says the two Palestinians attacked Jewish pedestrians outside the city's Jaffa Gate. Samri says police shot both assailants. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

By Associated Press December 23, 2015 2 min read

JERUSALEM (AP) – Two Palestinian assailants were shot and killed on Wednesday after stabbing Jewish pedestrians outside Jerusalem’s Old City, Israeli police said, the latest in an unrelenting wave of violence that has gripped the region.

A Jewish man who was apparently wounded by the police as they shot at the Palestinian assailants later died.

Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said the attack happened outside the city’s Jaffa Gate, a popular spot for tourists visiting Jerusalem’s walled Old City. She said police shot both assailants who were later identified as Palestinians in their early 20s from the West Bank. One died at the scene and the second later, in hospital.

Three people were seriously wounded in the attack, one of whom later died from gunshot wounds, said hospital spokeswoman Shoham Ruvio. She identified the deceased as a 40-year-old Jerusalem resident.

Samri had said earlier that one of the wounded may have been shot by police officers who were firing at the Palestinian assailants.