An Israeli father and son were shot and wounded in a terror attack outside Jerusalem’s Old City, police and medics said Saturday morning.
Police said the attacker was a 13-year-old Palestinian from East Jerusalem. He was shot and wounded by armed civilians.
The Kan public broadcaster named the attacker as Muhammad Aliyat from Silwan.
Police said the victims were father and son. The son was a volunteer with the Magen David Adom emergency service but was not working at the time of the attack.
MDA said its medics treated the pair on Ma’alot Ir David Street in the capital, close to the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, before taking them to the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in the city.
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The hospital said the victims, a man in his 20s and a 59-year-old man, were listed in serious but stable condition.
An Israeli policeman secures a shooting attack site near Jerusalem’s Old City, on January 28, 2023.(AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Both suffered gunshot wounds to their upper bodies, according to MDA and hospital officials.
Police said the 13-year-old terrorist was shot by two armed civilian passersby.
He was then taken by medics for further medical treatment. His condition was not immediately known.
The handgun used in the attack was seized, police said.
The gun used by a 13-year-old Palestinian in a shooting attack near Jerusalem’s Old City on Janaury 28, 2023. (Israel Police)
Gunfire could be heard in footage shared on social media.
???? متابعة صفا | اللحظات الأولى لتنفيذ عملية إطلاق النار في بلدة سلوان بالقدس والتي أسفرت عن إصابة مستوطنين اثنين pic.twitter.com/cSDwKxD5SU
— وكالة صفا (@SafaPs) January 28, 2023
The attack came hours after seven people were killed and three more were hurt in a shooting attack on Friday night in the Neve Yaakov neighborhood.
Police said Saturday that the national alert level was raised to the highest level, as security forces were bolstered across Israel and the West Bank in the wake of the deadly attack.
Police commissioner Kobi Shabtai ordered that a team of officers from the elite Yamam counterterrorism unit be stationed in Jerusalem following the two attacks.
Military chief Herzi Halevi issued instructions to increase forces in the West Bank and along its security barrier, and to prepare for a potential escalation in the region.
Friday’s deadly attack came following days of violence in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Tensions have increased dramatically since Thursday morning, when an Israel Defense Forces raid in the West Bank against a terrorist cell left nine Palestinians dead — most of them gunmen and members of the cell, though at least one civilian was also killed.
Thursday overnight saw rocket fire from Palestinian terror groups in Gaza and Israeli retaliatory air strikes as both sides appeared intent on avoiding an escalation into a full-scale war.
