JERUSALEM (JTA) — The U.S. diplomatic missions in Israel issued a security message to U.S. citizens warning them of the increase in stabbing attacks in and around the Old City of Jerusalem.

The message released by the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem and the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv announced that the “recent uptick in stabbing attacks in and around the Old City of Jerusalem has led the U.S. Consulate General to recommend that all U.S. government employees and their family members avoid the Damascus, Herod’s, and Lions gates and the surrounding vicinity.”

The message, issued late Monday, said that the restriction may be lifted at the end of October, which is when the Jewish holiday season ends, “based on the security environment at that time.”

The security message called on U.S. citizens to avoid areas where there are a large number of police present “as this is often an indicator of an ongoing investigation, demonstration, or that an attack or an attempted attack may have just occurred.” It called on U.S. citizens to “exercise a heightened sense of situational awareness at all times and to monitor local news sources.”

A series of attacks since last week, including several in and around Jerusalem has left at least seven Palestinian assailants dead and several Israeli soldiers and civilians injured, some seriously.

The condition of a policewoman, 38, who was stabbed repeatedly in an attack on Monday where they she was patrolling with a fellow officer near Herod’s Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem, remained “very serious but stable” a day after the attack, according to the times of Israel.

The knife damaged the blood vessels in the woman’s neck and caused injury to her spine, according to doctors at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem.

A male police officer, 45, was stabbed in the upper body and moderately wounded, and was being treated at Hadassah Hospital, Ein Kerem. He shot the attacker, who is in critical condition in a Jerusalem hospital.

Let’s block ads! (Why?)