A Palestinian stabbed an Israeli border policeman at Damascus Gate outside East Jerusalem’s Old City on Sunday, critically wounding him, before the officer then shot his attacker, leaving him in critical condition.

Israeli police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld said that the Israeli policeman had received stab wounds to his neck and been moved to hospital in critical condition.

Although the Palestinian — identified by prisoners’ rights group Addameer as 18-year-old Yaser Yasin al-Tarawah — was earlier reported dead, Rosenfeld later said he had been moved to Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem in critical condition.

Witnesses told Ma’an that he had been shot six times by the police officer.

The Israeli policeman was taken to Shaare Zedek medical center.

Israeli news site Ynet quoted Dr. Ofer Merin as saying: “We’re in the first stages of treatment. The soldier arrived an hour and a half ago in critical condition with multiple wounds. The main wounds were to his neck and chest, with one to his heart.

“Currently, he is stable and not bleeding, but his life is still in danger.”

Rosenfeld posted a photo of a bloody knife on his Twitter feed, saying it was the weapon used by the Palestinian.

He added that the area had been cordoned off for an hour and a half following the incident.

The attack was the latest in a string of attacks by Palestinians on Israeli forces and civilians in recent months, and comes two days after a 25-year-old Israeli civilian was shot dead while driving in the occupied West Bank near Ramallah.

Sunday’s incident also came two days after the first Friday of Ramadan, which saw around 80,000 Palestinians from the occupied West Bank and Gaza cross into East Jerusalem to pray at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound.

Israel relaxed severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinians into Israel for the occasion, citing a relative security lull and good cooperation with the Palestinian Authority. MAANNEWS