Three dead as Jerusalem sees bloodiest day in rising unrest

One of the attacks, which saw an assailant open fire on a bus, marked the first assault with a gun in Jerusalem in the two-week-old upsurge of Palestinian violence. The rising tide of unrest, which has seen a series of stabbing attacks and violent protests, has raised fears that a full-scale third Palestinian uprising, or intifada, could erupt. 

In the first and second intifadas, in 1987-1993 and 2000-2005, hundreds were killed in near-daily violence between Israel and the Palestinians.

The bus attack saw one assailant with a pistol and another with two knives assault some 15 people travelling on an east Jerusalem bus, police said.

Two Israelis were killed, including a 60-year-old, while around 10 others were wounded, medics and police said.

One of the attackers was shot dead while the other was wounded, police said.

“I was in my house and I heard between 20 and 30 shots between the police and the terrorists,” a man who lives in the area said, declining to give his name.

In another attack around the same time in an ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighbourhood of Jerusalem, an assailant drove a car into a group at a bus stop and exited with a knife.

At least one person was killed and eight wounded, medics said. The attacker was also wounded.

It was not clear if the attacks were coordinated.

The Jerusalem attacks came after a Palestinian stabbed and wounded a passerby north of Tel Aviv before being overcome by civilians in the area.

Police described the attacker as a 22-year-old Palestinian from east Jerusalem and said he was taken to hospital with serious injuries after being beaten by residents.