Israelis wounded in new stabbing attacks
Nine police officers were reportedly injured while raiding the home of the suspect, according to the Times of Israel.
In the first attack, Israeli police said a 25-year-old religious student was knived by a 19-year-old Palestinian at a railway station in the north of Jerusalem. The victim was said to be in a serious condition in hospital.
In a second attack, an Israeli soldier and four passersby were stabbed with a screwdriver in Tel Aviv before their attacker was shot dead, police and the military said. All of the victims were lightly wounded. Police did not provide further details about the attacker apart from identifying him as a "terrorist".
In the third attack, a Palestinian stabbed an Israeli near the Kiryat Arba settlement near Hebron in the occupied West Bank, the military said. The victim was severely wounded while the attacker fled.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, had earlier banned cabinet ministers and MPs from visiting the flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. Netanyahu's office said that the ban on visits to the site, known to Jews as Temple Mount, was aimed at "cooling things down". The office said that both Palestinian and Jewish politicians were barred, and the ban was open-ended.
Netanyahu calls for unity government
Late on Thursday, Netanyahu called for a unity among Israelis and called for a "broad" government.
"We would be glad for cooperation from the Palestinian Authority," he added. "If this is their direction, I welcome it."
"These actions are mostly not organised, but they are all the result of wild and untruthful incitement from Hamas, from the Palestinian Authority, from several neighbouring counties and, no less, from the Islamic Movement in Israel."
Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon also called on "all sides, Jews and Arabs," to stop the violence and incitement.
"The IDF has been waging an assault on Palestinian terror since Operation Defensive Shield," he said during a press conference, referring to the Israeli army's operation during the Second Intifada. "IDF commanders are experienced combatants … this is the time to be united and fight the Palestinian terror wave with determination."
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