An 18-year-old Palestinian woman stabbed an Israeli near a contested shrine in Jerusalem on Wednesday and was then shot and wounded by the injured man, Israeli police said, the third knife attack in the city in less than a week.  Police said the attacker struck in an alleyway near the Western Wall, a Jewish prayer site abutting the al Aqsa mosque complex - Islam's third holiest shrine which Jews also revere as the vestige of their two ancient temples.

Both Israel and the U.S.-backed administration of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have sought to calm a surge in street violence that has been exacerbated by confrontations between Palestinian protesters and armed officers at the al Aqsa site.

Four Israelis have been killed in stabbings in Jerusalem and a drive-by shooting in the occupied West Bank since Thursday, and two Palestinians have been shot dead and scores injured in clashes with security services, triggering fears of an escalation.

Read more: Reuters