Yeshiva bochur killed in stabbing in Old City Jerusalem

A young British yeshiva student was killed last night after a Palestinian man stabbed him with a 30-centimeter kitchen knife in the Old City of Jerusalem, close to the Jaffa Gate, police sources said.

His companion, a fellow student from the United States, was moderately wounded. The two victims, both in their twenties, had been studying at an ultra-Orthodox yeshiva in the Old City.

After the attack, the American managed to reach a police station some 200 meters away and led police to his critically injured friend at the site of the stabbing.

The victim was taken to Hadassah University Hospital, Ein Kerem, where he died of his wounds; his companion was hospitalized at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem.

The police said they were pursuing the attacker, who was motivated by nationalism and had fled the scene. Yoram Halevy, commander of the Old City’s police station, said a Palestinian carried out the stabbings.

According to one of the paramedics who treated the two, the moderately injured man had said that he and his friend had been going from the Western Wall toward their yeshiva when they were attacked.

The paramedic said the injured man told her he did not know who the assailant was but presumed he was an Arab.