Elderly Israeli women stabbed in Jerusalem attack: Police

Two elderly Israeli women out walking in Jerusalem were stabbed and wounded on Tuesday, police said.

The two women in their 80s were part of a group of five on a walk in woods when they were attacked.

The Palestinian Maan news agency said the group were in an Israeli settlement in illegally occupied East Jerusalem when the attack occurred.

Medics treated them at the scene before taking them to hospital where they were in moderate and stable condition with stab wounds to their upper bodies, the Shaare Zedek hospital said.

Police said the assailants fled to the nearby Palestinian neighbourhood of Jabal Mukaber.

Two Palestinian suspects arrested shortly after the incident were released after questioning when they were found to be uninvolved, police said.

"Police are continuing intensive operational and intelligence activity to find and arrest the terrorists," a statement said.

There has been a wave of Palestinian attacks targeting Israeli civilians and security forces, primarily in east Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.

Since October last year, 204 Palestinians and 28 Israelis have been killed, according to an AFP count.

Most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks, Israeli authorities say.