A Palestinian woman, who according to police, rushed toward border-police officers with a knife, was shot and killed next to the Damascus gate of Jerusalem’s old city. No injuries were reported among the officers, who managed to open fire before the attacker reached them.
“A short while ago, here at the Damascus Gate, a female terrorist attempted to stab a border police officer. She had a knife in her hand, and he (police) responded by opening fire and shot and killed the female terrorist at the scene. At the moment, we are carrying out an investigation in order to understand how she arrived in the area, where she got hold of the knife and all security measures are being implemented in order to prevent any further terrorist attacks from taking place here in Jerusalem in Damascus Gate area,” Micky Rosenfeld, Israeli Police Spokesman.
Police identified the woman as 49 years old Siham Nimr from the Palestinian Shuafat refugee camp in east Jerusalem, the mother of Mustafa Nimr, who was accidentally killed by policemen in September of 2016, who mistook him for a terrorist, after his cousin rammed through a police checkpoint while driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol. Mustafa, who was sitting in the passenger seat, was shot and critically wounded before succumbing to his wounds. A family member said that since her son was killed, Siham was heavily depressed and could not recover. He estimated that Siham probably attempted to stab the officers as revenge for her son’s death.