Jerusalem tense after police kill Glick shooting suspect

Israeli police have killed a Palestinian suspected of shooting a prominent right-wing Jewish activist hours earlier in Jerusalem.

The man was shot after opening fire when police surrounded his home.

Rabbi Yehuda Glick was seriously hurt after a meeting where he urged greater Jewish access at a disputed holy site.

Police have taken the unusual step of closing the site to all worshippers and visitors until further notice. The Palestinian leader condemned the move.

"Jerusalem, including its Islamic and Christian holy places, is a red line and touching it is is unacceptable," Mahmoud Abbas said in a statement, quoted by the Associated Press news agency.

Rabbi Glick is a well-known American-born campaigner for greater Jewish rights to pray at the site, which is known to Jews as the Temple Mount, and to Muslims as Haram al-Sharif.

It is the holiest site in Judaism, and also contains the al-Aqsa Mosque - the third holiest site in Islam.

The shooting of Mr Glick is the latest in a series of incidents which have led to an escalation of tensions in Jerusalem.

A website of the Islamist group Hamas identified the Palestinian as 32-year-old Moataz Hejazi, Reuters news agency reported.

Police said the suspect had served time in jail in Israel and was released in 2012, adding that he belonged to the Islamic Jihad militant group.

Israeli officials said that the police anti-terrorist unit along with the Israeli internal security service Shin Bet received information that Mr Glick's attacker was located in the Abu Tor neighbourhood.

Police say they were fired at after surrounding the house and shot back, hitting the suspect.

Rabbi Glick has had surgery for gunshot wounds to his chest and abdomen.

He had just attended a conference where delegates discussed Jewish claims to the compound, one of the most contentious areas of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Israel argues that it protects freedom of worship at the site, but Palestinians claim it is unilaterally taking steps to allow larger numbers of Jewish visitors.

The site is administered by an Islamic body called the Waqf, while Israeli police are in charge of security.

Jews are allowed on to the compound but are forbidden from praying or performing religious rites there under Israeli law.

BBC