Israel violence: One dead in bus station attack in southern city of Beersheba

Palestinian protesters throw stones during clashes with Israeli security forces in the West Bank city of Hebron this morning (EPA)

Two Arab attackers opened fire in a bus station in southern Israel today, killing one Israeli and wounding six others in one of the boldest attacks yet of a monthlong wave of violence.

The attack came as Israel further tightened security around the country, highlighted by the construction of a barrier separating Jewish and Arab neighbourhoods in east Jerusalem. US Secretary of State John Kerry said in Paris that he would meet the Israeli and Palestinian leaders in the coming days.

Israel has deployed thousands of police, backed by troops, to maintain order following a spate of attacks, mostly stabbings, by Palestinian assailants.

In Sunday night’s attack, police said the two assailants entered the central bus station in the southern city of Beersheba and began shooting and stabbing people. They said an Israeli man was killed and six other people, including four police officers, were wounded

One of the attackers was shot and killed, while the second was shot and wounded.

Israeli media showed footage of a blood-streaked floor and rows of ambulances outside the bus station.

The attack was one of the most serious incidents amid near-daily bouts of violence that have hit Israel and the Palestinian territories over the past month.

After the attack, a crowd of Israelis gathered outside the bus station and chanted “death to Arabs”, a sign of rising tensions over the violence.

Israeli police erected a barrier to separate the Jewish neighbourhood of Armon Hanatziv from the adjacent Palestinian neighbourhood of Jabel Mukaber as part of the heightened security. A number of attackers have come from Jabel Mukaber.