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Palestinian suspect killed after Jerusalem border guard stabbed

The death toll has risen since October 1, when conflict between Israelis and Palestinians began eascalating.

By Ed Adamczyk
A religious Jew walks past a firearms store in central Jerusalem, Israel, October 11, 2015. There has been a sharp increase in Israelis applying for firearm permits following a wave of stabbing attacks by Palestinians. Two incidents of stabbings of Israeli border officers were reported Monday. Photo by Debbie Hill/ UPI
A religious Jew walks past a firearms store in central Jerusalem, Israel, October 11, 2015. There has been a sharp increase in Israelis applying for firearm permits following a wave of stabbing attacks by Palestinians. Two incidents of stabbings of Israeli border officers were reported Monday. Photo by Debbie Hill/ UPI | License Photo

JERUSALEM, Oct. 12 (UPI) -- Violence in Jerusalem continued Monday, with Israeli police announcing the death of a Palestinian man who assaulted an Israeli border officer.

The man was shot and killed after attacking the officer with a knife near the Lion's Gate of Jerusalem's Old City, an area which includes holy sites of Christianity, Islam and Judaism. Friends identified the attacker as Mustafa al-Khateeb, 18, of predominately Palestinian East Jerusalem. The officer was unharmed, Israeli police spokeswoman Luba Samri said.

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Hours later a female attacker was shot after she stabbed another border officer in the Ammunition Hill section of Jerusalem. Both were hospitalized, the alleged suspect in serious condition, Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

The incidents are the latest examples of violence in confrontations, since October 1, between Palestinian youth and Israeli authorities, centering on the East Jerusalem and West Bank areas. The Palestinian Health Ministry reported at least 24 Palestinians have died and over 1,000 have been injured, largely in stabbings, gunfire and rock-throwing confrontations. Four Israelis have been killed and at least 20 injured.

While some have suggested a Palestinian intifada, or uprising, has begun, others have said the unrest is simply the result of a lack of any move toward peace in Jerusalem. Palestinians have clashed with police at the Temple Mount, an Islamic holy mosque in the Old City, and Israeli police have restricted access to the area.

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Israel has also mobilized 1,300 reserve border officers throughout Jerusalem, as "a primary preventive and deterrent measure," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Sunday in a statement.

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