News Digest

Tension in Jerusalem inflamed after Israeli police shoot Palestinian gunman

Israeli police on Thursday shot dead a 32-year-old Palestinian man suspected of having tried hours earlier to kill a far-right Jewish activist, leading to clashes in East Jerusalem and fears of a new Palestinian uprising. The al-Aqsa compound was shut down for almost an entire day to all visitors as a security precaution. It was the first full closure of the holy site, also known as Temple Mount - at the heart of the latest violence and venerated by both Jews and Muslims - in 14 years. Late Thursday, Israeli police reopened the complex. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas denounced Israel’s actions as “tantamount to a declaration of war” and his Fatah party called for a “day of rage” on Friday.

Anti-terrorist police units surrounded a house in the Abu Tor neighbourhood to arrest a suspect in the attempted assassination of Yehuda Glick … Immediately upon arrival they were shot at. They returned fire and shot and killed the suspect.

Micky Rosenfeld, Israeli police spokesman

It was not clear if al-Aqsa would be opened to Muslims on their holy day. Moataz Hejazi’s body lay in blood among satellite dishes and a solar panel on the rooftop of a three-storey house in Abu Tor, a district of Arab East Jerusalem, as Israeli forces sealed off the area and repelled stone-throwing Palestinian protesters. Hejazi was suspected of shooting and wounding Yehuda Glick, a far-right religious activist and U.S.-born settler, who has led a campaign for Jews to be allowed to pray at al-Aqsa. Glick was shot as he left a conference at the Menachem Begin Heritage Centre in Jerusalem late on Wednesday. His assailant escaped on the back of a motorcycle. A spokesman for the centre said Hejazi had worked at a restaurant there. Glick, 48, remains in serious but stable condition with four gunshot wounds, doctors said. Residents said hundreds of Israeli police were involved in the pre-dawn search for Hejazi. He was tracked to his family home in the hilly backstreets of Abu Tor and eventually cornered on the terrace of an adjacent building.