JERUSALEM: Two Palestinians were killed as more than 200,000 Muslims took part in the final Friday prayers of Ramadan at Al-Aqsa mosque compound in the Old City of annexed east Jerusalem, as Israel heightened security.
The religious authority in charge of the compound, the third holiest site in Islam, said in total 260,000 worshippers took part in the lunchtime prayers.
The prayers came only hours after a Palestinian teenager stabbed two Israelis inside the Old City before being shot dead by Israeli security.
In a separate incident, another Palestinian teenager was shot dead by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank as he sought to sneak into Jerusalem, reportedly to pray at Al-Aqsa.
In Jerusalem itself, a 19-year-old Palestinian stabbed one Israeli near the Damascus Gate and another near Jaffa Gate on the other side of the walled Old City, police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said.
One of the Israelis was in a critical condition and the other suffered serious wounds, he said.
“Police units that responded at the scene saw the attacker with a knife. The attacker was shot and killed,” Rosenfeld said.
The Palestinian health ministry later named him as Yusef Wajih from Abwein village in the central West Bank.
A video released by police showed a man running through the streets and stabbing two Orthodox Jews.
The Old City has been the scene of numerous stabbings of Israelis by Palestinian assailants in recent years, though a relative calm has existed for several months.
After the latest attack, gates to the Old City were briefly sealed before being reopened as thousands thronged toward the mosque.
Inside the mostly uncovered mosque compound, water was sprayed on worshippers to keep them cool in the baking Jerusalem sun, with temperatures approaching 40 degrees.
Despite a heavy police presence, there were no reports of further incidents.
Rosenfeld said increased security presence would “continue throughout the afternoon and evening.”
The Al-Aqsa mosque compound is a key religious and political symbol for Palestinians. It is also sacred for Jews, who refer to it at the Temple Mount.
The attack came just two days before Israelis hold a major march to mark Jerusalem Day, the annual commemoration of the capture of east Jerusalem in the Six-Day War of 1967.
It was later annexed in a move not recognized by the international community.
In December 2017, US President Donald Trump broke with decades of bipartisan policy to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in a move that prompted the Palestinians to cut all contacts with his administration.
Israel insists the whole of Jerusalem is its “eternal, indivisible capital.” The Palestinians demand the city’s eastern sector as the capital of their long promised state.
On Thursday evening, Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem as part of a Middle East tour before Washington unveils its long-awaited plan for Israel-Palestinian peace.
Kushner, accompanied by Trump envoy Jason Greenblatt, arrived in Jerusalem after earlier stops in Morocco and Jordan.
He is a key architect of the peace plan that the White House says it intends to present in the coming weeks.
But the plan, previously delayed for an Israeli general election on April 9, could face further postponements due to Israeli politics.
Israel is set to hold another general election in September after Netanyahu failed to form a coalition government, and the plan is widely seen as too sensitive an issue to introduce during a political campaign.
The Palestinian leadership has rejected the peace plan without seeing it, saying Trump has shown himself to be blatantly biased in favor of Israel.
They cite moves including declaring the disputed city of Jerusalem Israel’s capital and cutting hundreds of millions of dollars in Palestinian aid.
Trump has also handed Netanyahu other diplomatic coups, notably US recognition of Israel’s 1981 annexation of the strategic Golan Heights captured from Syria in the Six-Day War.
On Thursday, Kushner delivered Netanyahu a gift from Trump, a map of Israel signed and approvingly annotated by the US president showing the Golan as inside the Jewish state’s borders.
Two Palestinians killed as 200,000 gather for Friday prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem
Two Palestinians killed as 200,000 gather for Friday prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem
- Palestinian teenager stabs two Israelis inside the Old City before being shot dead by Israeli security
- Another teenager shot dead in the occupied West Bank as he tried to cross into Jerusalem to attend prayers
US condemns RSF drone attack on World Food Programme convoy in Sudan’s North Kordofan
- Denise Brown, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan, also expresses concern over the drone attack
WASHINGTON: The US has condemned a drone attack by Rapid Support Forces on an aid convoy in Sudan’s North Kordofan state that killed one person and injured three others.
“The United States condemns the recent drone attack on a World Food Program convoy in North Kordofan transporting food to famine-stricken people which killed one and wounded many others,” US Senior Adviser for Arab and African Affairs Massad Boulos wrote on X.
“Destroying food intended for people in need and killing humanitarian workers is sickening,” the US envoy wrote.
“The Trump Administration has zero tolerance for this destruction of life and of U.S.-funded assistance; we demand accountability and extend our condolences to all those affected by these inexcusable events and terrible war,” he added.
The Sudan Doctors Network said the convoy was struck by RSF drones in the Allah Karim area as it headed toward displaced people in El-Obeid, the state capital, Anadolu Agency reported.
The network described the attack as a “clear violation of international humanitarian law,” warning that it undermines efforts to deliver life-saving aid to civilians amid worsening humanitarian conditions across the country.
There was no immediate comment from the rebel group.
The United States condemns the recent drone attack on a World Food Program convoy in North Kordofan transporting food to famine-stricken people which killed one and wounded many others. This follows an attack earlier this week in Blue Nile state that injured a @WFP staff member.…
— U.S. Senior Advisor for Arab and African Affairs (@US_SrAdvisorAF) February 6, 2026
Denise Brown, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan, in a statement also expressed concern over the drone attack which hit the aid trucks in North Kordofan.
“I am deeply concerned by a drone attack earlier today on trucks contracted by the World Food Programme (WFP) in North Kordofan, the aftermath of which I came across a few hours later, as I left the state capital, El Obeid.”
“The trucks were en route from Kosti to deliver life-saving food assistance to displaced families near El Obeid when they were struck, tragically killing at least one individual and injuring many more. The trucks caught fire, destroying food commodities intended for life-saving humanitarian response.”
Brown added that “Humanitarian personnel, assets and supplies must be protected at all times. Attacks on aid operations undermine efforts to reach people facing hunger and displacement.”
“Safe and unimpeded humanitarian access remains critical to ensure assistance reaches the most vulnerable people across Sudan.”
Since April 2023, the conflict between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary forces has killed tens of thousands, displaced 11 million and which the UN has described as one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
An alert issued by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), confirmed famine conditions in El-Fasher and Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan, about 800 kilometers to the east.
The IPC said that 20 more areas in Sudan’s Darfur and neighboring Kordofan were at risk of famine.
Of Sudan’s 18 states, the RSF controls all five states in the western Darfur region, except for parts of North Darfur that remain under army control. The army holds most areas of the remaining 13 states across the south, north, east and center of the country, including the capital, Khartoum.
The conflict between the army and the RSF, which erupted in April 2023, has killed thousands of people and displaced millions.
