Thousands pray for forgivness (Selichot), at the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem on Sep.t 16, 2018. Photo: Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90.

JNS.org – An attempted stabbing attack was thwarted on the night of Yom Kippur by Israeli police in Jerusalem.

Just after the beginning of the holiday at 7 pm, a 26-year-old man from the Palestinian village of Qalandiya near the Jerusalem-Ramallah border charged at a Jewish man with a screwdriver near the Damascus Gate of the Old City, knocking him to the ground and then running towards police officers.

A police spokesman said the officers shot the assailant, killing him. He was later found to be in Jerusalem illegally.

Earlier in the day, five Arab suspects were arrested on the Temple Mount in the city for disrupting and intimidating Jewish worshippers who had arrived at the site for Yom Kippur, in commemoration of the annual religious service that took place there during the Temple periods. Police say the suspects are members of the Hamas-related Shabab al-Aqsa terror group.

Police presence in the Israel’s capital has been increased over the Jewish holidays, particularly due to the large number of worshippers traveling to Jerusalem’s Old City on foot.