Streets Shut Down As Police Investigate Stabbing Attack

Following a stabbing attack in Yerushalayim on Monday morning, police closed down a main street in eastern Yerushalayim and some stores in the vicinity of the Damascus Gate, where the incident occurred.

The authorities said it was “not a punitive measure, but rather a purely professional one.”

“The shops along Sultan Suleiman Street have been closed, and that is under the framework of an investigation into the circumstances of the incident,” police said in a statement. The closure was “until further notice.”

Yerushalayim Police Chief Yoram Halevy and his staff were expected to reassess the situation later in the day, a police spokesperson said.

Local Palestinian news outlets posted photographs of the deserted streets and closed-up shops on social media.

Just after 7:30 a.m., 20-year-old Ayman al-Kurd came up behind two police officers and stabbed them both repeatedly, inflicting moderate to serious wounds.

Al-Kurd, a resident of the eastern Yerushalayim Ras al-Amoud neighborhood, was shot and critically wounded in the attack, police said.