JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli authorities said on Saturday they had found no evidence of Islamic State involvement in attacks by three Palestinians that killed an Israeli policewoman, despite the group’s claim of responsibility.

Palestinian militant factions also denied Islamic State was involved in the attacks in Jerusalem on Friday, in which a second Israeli police officer was wounded.

Islamic State’s claim of responsibility was reported by the group’s Amaq news agency on Friday.

Police spokeswoman Luba Simri said the Israeli military had so far found no connection between the three assailants and any armed group.

“It was a local cell. At this stage no indication has been found it was directed by terrorist organizations nor has any connection to any organization been found,” Simri said.

The SITE intelligence monitoring group said it was the first time Islamic State had claimed responsibility for an attack inside Israeli-controlled territory.

However, a senior official from Hamas, the Islamic group that rules the Gaza Strip, and the People’s Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) said the three attackers, who were all shot dead at the scene, were their own members.

Israeli border policewomen perform a frisk search of Palestinian women near Damascus Gate in Jerusalem's Old City June 17, 2017. REUTERS/Ammar Awad

“The three hero martyrs who executed the Jerusalem operation have no connection to Daesh (Islamic State), they are affiliated with the PFLP and Hamas,” Hamas’ Izzat El-Reshiq wrote on Twitter.

In a separate statement, the PFLP identified two of the three attackers as its members. “The media office of the PFLP armed wing mourns two of its hero comrades, two freed prisoners,” it said.

Israeli police said on Friday all the assailants were from the occupied West Bank. Two of them, both from the area of Ramallah, were aged between 18 and 19 and the third was a 30-year-old from Hebron, Simri said.

The assaults took place simultaneously in two areas near the Damascus gate of Jerusalem’s walled old city.

Two Palestinians were shot dead after opening fire at and trying to stab a group of Israeli police officers, police said. In the second incident, a Palestinian fatally stabbed a border policewoman before being shot dead by police.

A wave of Palestinian street attacks began in October 2015 but has since slowed. Thirty-eight Israelis, two American tourists and a British student have been killed in stabbings, shootings and car-rammings, many of which took place in the vicinity of the Old City’s Damascus gate.

At least 252 Palestinians and one Jordanian citizen have been killed since the violence began. Israel says at least 170 of those killed were carrying out attacks. Others died during clashes and protests.

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Israel blames the violence on incitement by the Palestinian leadership.

The Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited self-rule in the West Bank, denies that and says assailants have acted out of desperation over Israeli occupation of land sought by Palestinians for a state.

U.S.-brokered peace talks between the sides broke down in 2014. Palestinians want to establish an independent state in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, territories Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East War.</s>Hamas says ISIL claim that three of its fighters attacked Israeli police is false and an attempt to 'muddy the waters'.

Palestinian groups have rejected ISIL's claim of responsibility for Friday's attacks in Jerusalem, which left one Israeli police officer killed and resulted in Israeli soldiers killing three Palestinians.

It is the first attack in Israeli-occupied territory claimed by ISIL, or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group. But the statement it released on Saturday appeared to have major discrepancies with Friday's events.

Three Palestinians attacked officers at the Damascus Gate in occupied East Jerusalem late on Friday and were killed by Israeli security forces.

Another Palestinian man from Hebron was also injured by Israeli security forces, despite playing no role in the attacks.

READ MORE: How Israel has failed Palestinian victims

Hamas, the Palestinian group that administers the Gaza Strip, dismissed ISIL's claim, saying the three attackers had come from among its own ranks as well as the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

Sami Abu Zuhri, Hamas spokesman, said the ISIL claim was an attempt to "muddy the waters", adding that the attack was carried out by "two Palestinians from the PFLP and a third from Hamas", AFP news agency reported.

The killing was "a natural response to the crimes of the occupier", he said.

Israel's Shin Bet internal security agency identified the three Palestinians as Bara Saleh, born in 1998; Adel Ankoush, born in 1999; and Asama Atta, born in 1998.

All three men were from the village of Deir Abu Mashal, near the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah.

The PFLP said Salah and Atta had recently been released from several months in Israeli prison.

The names differ from those reported by ISIL, which said the attack was carried out by three brothers by the names of Abu al-Bara'a al-Maqdisi, Abu Hassan al-Maqdisi, and Abu Rabah al-Maqdisi, AFP reported.

Since October 2015, about 250 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces, with many instances occurring within close range or during protests in occupied territory.

A number of local and international human rights groups have raised concerns that Israeli security forces have employed a "shoot-to-kill" policy when confronting Palestinians.

The Israeli police relaxed its open-fire regulations in December 2015, permitting officers to open fire with live ammunition on those suspected of throwing stones or firebombs as an initial option, without having to use non-lethal weapons first.

About 42 Israelis have also been killed in attacks carried out by Palestinians since October 2015.

Palestinians say those attacks result from anger over decades of Israeli occupation.</s>ISIS and Hamas are both claiming responsibility for yet another attack in Israel's capital, Jerusalem. Two separate attacks were reportedly carried out simultaneously by three Palestinians armed with guns and knives.

(PHOTO: REUTERS/ YASER AL-KHODOR)ISIS fighters carry their weapons as they parade along a street in an occupied territory in Syria.

The attacks happened on Friday at around 7:30 p.m., with the terrorists attacking police officers and civilians. One of the officers, 23-year-old Hadas Malka, was stabbed by one of the assailants as she attempted to reach for her weapon. Her attacker was later shot dead by officers who responded to the scene.

Meanwhile, the two other terrorists proceeded to rampage along Sultan Suleiman Street, near Damascus Gate in the Old City. Both were shot dead after assaulting police officers.

Malka and another wounded police officer were taken to Hadassah University Hospital in Jerusalem for treatment. The critically injured Malka later succumb to her wounds.

The ISIS later claimed responsibility for an attack, marking the first time they claimed an attack within Israel. Earlier this year, the group also said they were behind the rocket attacks that originated from the Sinai Peninsula.

The group's news agency said that "soldiers of the caliphate" attacked a "gathering of Jews" and warned that the attack will not be the last. Meanwhile Hamas, who also claimed responsibility for the attack, tells a different story.

According to them, the Islamic State had no part in the attacks. The group claims that Friday's attack was carried out by one of their members while the other two belonged to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

The attacks come as ISIS continues to project their global presence. They also claimed the recent attacks in Manchester and London.

The group has claimed responsibility for attacks carried out by their cells and affiliates on five continents. This presence has attracted extremists globally, and the organization has drawn some of its manpower through recruitment of radicalized Muslims in Western countries.</s>JERUSALEM: Israeli security forces shot dead three Palestinians who carried out shooting and stabbing attacks in which an Israeli border policewoman was killed in Jerusalem on Friday, police said.

The attacks occurred simultaneously in two areas near the Damascus gate of Jerusalem's walled old city.

At one scene, two Palestinians were shot dead after opening fire at and trying to stab a group of Israeli police officers, police said. At the other, a Palestinian fatally stabbed a border policewoman before being shot dead by police.

A second Israeli officer was also injured in the attacks.

A wave of Palestinian street attacks began in October 2015 but has since slowed. Israel blames the violence on incitement by the Palestinian leadership.

The Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited self-rule in the West Bank, denies that and says assailants have acted out of frustration over Israeli occupation of land sought by Palestinians in peace talks that have been stalled since 2014.</s>The Islamic State on Friday night claimed responsibility for a coordinated shooting and stabbing terror attack in Jerusalem that killed an Israeli police officer, Hadas Malka, 23, in what the jihadist group vowed would be the first of many attacks.

The jihadist group in an online statement said three IS fighters had targeted “a gathering of Jews” in an operation Friday, and warned that “this attack will not be the last.”

“With God’s help, we succeeded in carrying out an attack in the heart of Jerusalem,” the group said.

This was the first time that the Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for an attack in Israel, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors extremist organizations.

Such claims are often impossible to corroborate, and Islamic State has taken responsibility in the past for attacks in which it was not directly involved.

Hamas dismissed the claim. Israeli officials also cast doubt on it, saying there was no indication of IS involvement, and that the attack did not appear to have been directed by any group.

Islamic State affiliates have claimed rocket fire into Israel, and previous terror attacks in Israel have been Islamic State-inspired. At least two 2016 attacks were inspired by Islamic State, according to Israeli officials: a January 1, 2016, shooting in Tel Aviv that left two bar-goers and a cab driver dead, and a truck attack in Jerusalem in December 2016 in which four soldiers on a tour of cultural sites were slain.

In its statement, IS said the attack was “revenge for the religion of Allah and the sanctities of the violated Muslims.”

“Let the Jews watch for the demise of their state at the hands of the soldiers of the Caliphate,” the statement added.

Three West Bank Palestinians, armed with an automatic weapon and knives, carried out near simultaneous attacks at two adjacent locations. Two attacked a group of police officers at Zedekiah’s Cave, and a third stabbed Malka a short distance away at Damascus Gate. The 23-year-old staff sergeant died of her wounds at Hadassah Hospital in Mount Scopus.

The attackers were identified by the Shin Bet internal security agency as Bra’a Salah and Asama Atta, both born in 1998, and Adel Ankush, born the following year. All three were shot dead as they carried out their attacks at the scene by security forces.

The attackers were from Deir Abu-Mashal, a village near Ramallah, and had previously been arrested for or involved in “terrorist activity,” a Shin Bet statement said. Security forces late Friday night surrounded Deir Abu-Mash’al, and were preparing to raid the assailants’ homes to question their family members regarding the attack.

Early on Saturday morning, Hamas rejected IS’s claim of responsibility, saying the three belonged to Palestinian terrorist organizations.

“The claim by the Islamic State group is an attempt to muddy the waters,” said Sami Abou Zouhri, spokesman for the terrorist group which runs the Gaza strip.

The attack was carried out by “two Palestinians from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and a third from Hamas,” he said.

In the wake of the attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revoked the entry permits given to Palestinians during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan to visit their relatives in Israel.

Israel had eased restrictions on the entrance of Palestinians from the West Bank for Ramadan, including permitting daily family visits during Sundays through Thursdays.

Netanyahu canceled the family visits at the recommendation of Chief of Police Roni Alsheich and Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, according to a police statement.

Netanyahu, however, did not revoke the permission given to Palestinian men aged over 40 from the West Bank to enter Jerusalem for Friday prayers, police said.

Israel last month announced that it was relaxing restrictions on the movement of Palestinians to and from the West Bank and Gaza Strip during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, including easier access to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, issuing more travel permits and allowing some to travel abroad. The measures were similar to those of previous years.</s>Palestinian militant groups including Hamas have denied a claim by the Islamic State (IS) group that three Palestinian men who killed an Israeli policewoman in Jerusalem were members of the jihadist outfit.

The IS group took responsibility for the knife and gun attack on Friday, in which the Israeli police officer was killed and another was wounded, according to the group's Amaq news agency.

The SITE intelligence monitoring group said it was the first time the IS group had claimed responsibility for an attack in Israeli-controlled territory.

But Israeli officials said Saturday that no connection had been found between the three attackers, all of whom were shot dead by police at the scene, and any established terror organisation.

"It was a local cell. At this stage no indication has been found it was directed by terrorist organisations nor has any connection to any organisation been found," police spokeswoman Luba Simri said.

Earlier a senior official from Hamas, the Islamist group that rules the Gaza Strip, and the People's Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) said the three attackers were their own members.

"The three hero martyrs who executed the Jerusalem operation have no connection to Daesh, they are affiliated with the PFLP and Hamas," Hamas' Izzat El-Reshiq wrote on Twitter, using an Arabic acronym to refer to the IS group.

The PFLP published a separate statement in which it identified two of the three attackers as members. "The media office of the PFLP armed wing mourns two of its hero comrades, two freed prisoners," it said.

Israeli police said on Friday all the assailants were from Palestinian cities in the occupied West Bank. Two of the attackers, both from Ramallah, were between the ages of 18 and 19 and the third was a 30-year-old from Hebron, police spokeswoman Luba Simri said.

The assaults took place simultaneously in two areas near the Damascus gate of Jerusalem's walled old city.

Two Palestinians were shot dead after opening fire at and trying to stab a group of Israeli police officers at one scene, police said. At the other, a Palestinian fatally stabbed a border policewoman before being shot dead by police.

A wave of Palestinian street attacks began in October 2015 but has since slowed. Israel blames the violence on incitement by the Palestinian leadership.

The Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited self-rule in the West Bank, denies that and says assailants have acted out of desperation over Israeli occupation of land sought by Palestinians for a state.

US-brokered peace talks between the sides broke down in 2014. Palestinians want to establish an independent state in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, territories Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East War.</s>The assailant wounded two ultra-Orthodox Jewish men in the street before fleeing into a nearby house where he was caught by border police officers who had given chase. He stabbed one of them before being shot, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

One of the two civilians was stabbed in the upper body and suffered injuries described as moderate. The other man and the border policeman were lightly wounded, Rosenfeld added.

Palestinian web sites identified the assailant as 17-year-old Ahmed Ghazzal, from the city of Nablus in the northern part of the occupied West Bank.

The incident took place close to the spot where, three days earlier, border police shot and killed a woman who tried to stab officers at Damascus Gate, a heavily guarded entrance to Jerusalem's Old City.

At least 242 Palestinians have been killed in Israel and the Palestinian Territories in a period of sporadic violence that began in October 2015 but has tapered off in recent months.

Israel says at least 162 were Palestinians who launched stabbing, shooting or ramming attacks using vehicles on Israelis before being killed by Israeli security forces. Others died during clashes and protests.

Two American tourists and 37 Israelis have been killed in such incidents since the violence began.

Israel has accused the Palestinian leadership of inciting the violence. The Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited self-rule in the occupied West Bank, denies incitement and charges that in many cases, Israel has used excessive force in thwarting attackers armed with rudimentary weapons.</s>Gaza City: Hamas on Saturday said the three Palestinians shot dead in Jerusalem after the fatal stabbing of an Israeli policewoman belonged to local Islamist and leftist movements, rejecting an earlier claim by the Islamic State group.

"The claim by the Islamic State group is an attempt to muddy the waters," said Sami Abou Zouhri, spokesman for the Islamist movement which runs the Gaza strip.

The attack was carried out by "two Palestinians from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and a third from Hamas", he said.

The Islamic State, in an online statement, today said three IS fighters had targeted "a gathering of Jews" in an operation yesterday during which the three attackers were killed by Israeli police.

 The group warned that "this attack will not be the last."

During the attack, the police officer was killed and others were wounded, according to IS.

It took place as Muslims marked the end of the third Friday of the fasting month of Ramadan, during which tens of thousands of Palestinians from east Jerusalem and the West Bank attended prayers at the nearby Al-Aqsa mosque compound, Islam's third-holiest site.

The policewoman was stabbed and critically injured and later died in hospital of her wounds. She was identified as Hadas Malka, 23, a staff sergeant major.

Israeli police said the three Palestinian assailants were killed.

According to police, two perpetrators opened fire at a group of police officers who returned fire, and a third stabbed the border policewoman a short distance away before being shot.

This was the first time that the Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for an attack in Israel, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors extremist organisations.

In its statement IS said the attack was "revenge for the religion of Allah and the sanctities of the violated Muslims."

"Let the Jews watch for the demise of their state at the hands of the soldiers of the Caliphate," the statement added.</s>JERUSALEM Israeli security forces shot dead three Palestinians who carried out shooting and stabbing attacks in which an Israeli border policewoman was killed in Jerusalem on Friday, police said.Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks, the group's Amaq news agency said.

The attacks occurred simultaneously in two areas near the Damascus gate of Jerusalem's walled old city.At one scene, two Palestinians were shot dead after opening fire at and trying to stab a group of Israeli police officers, police said. At the other, a Palestinian fatally stabbed a border policewoman before being shot dead by police.

A second Israeli officer was also injured in the attacks.

A wave of Palestinian street attacks began in October 2015 but has since slowed. Israel blames the violence on incitement by the Palestinian leadership.The Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited self-rule in the West Bank, denies that and says assailants have acted out of frustration over Israeli occupation of land sought by Palestinians in peace talks that have been stalled since 2014. (Reporting by Ari Rabinovitch; Editing by Alison Williams and Giles Elgood)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.</s>Jerusalem: Palestinian militant factions on Saturday dismissed a claim by the Islamic State group that it was behind the fatal stabbing of an Israeli policewoman in Jerusalem saying the assailants came from their ranks.

The Israeli security services also raised doubts about the veracity of the IS claim -- its first for an attack in Jerusalem -- which came with the jihadists facing defeat in their Iraq and Syria bastions.

Three Palestinians attacked officers just outside the walled Old City in annexed east Jerusalem late on Friday before being shot dead by security forces, Israeli police said.

In an online statement, IS said jihadist fighters had targeted a "gathering of Jews", warning that "this attack will not be the last".

But Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group that runs the Gaza Strip, dismissed the claim, saying the attackers had come from among its own ranks and those of the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

The assault took place as tens of thousands of Palestinians held night prayers at the nearby Al-Aqsa mosque compound, Islam`s third-holiest site, on the third Friday of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

According to police, two assailants opened fire on a group of officers who returned fire, and a third stabbed the border policewoman a short distance away before being shot.

Policewoman Hadas Malka, a 23-year-old staff sergeant major, was taken to hospital in critical condition and later died of her wounds.

Four other people were wounded in the incident, including two Palestinians from east Jerusalem and one from the West Bank city of Hebron.In its statement, IS said the attack was "revenge for the religion of Allah and the sanctities of the violated Muslims".

"Let the Jews watch for the demise of their state at the hands of the soldiers of the caliphate," the statement said.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the IS claim was an attempt to "muddy the waters", adding that the attack was carried out by "two Palestinians from the PFLP and a third from Hamas".

The killing was "a natural response to the crimes of the occupier," he said, echoing the language used by Hamas after other recent attacks against Israelis.

A spokesman for Israel`s Shin Bet internal security agency told AFP it was "impossible to corroborate (the IS claim) at this point."

The Israeli army said the assailants appeared have acted independently, like many of the attackers in a wave of unrest that has rocked Israel and the occupied territories since October 2015.

Most of the attacks have been carried out by "lone wolves", some only in their teens, and Israel has dubbed the violence "popular terrorism."

"A preliminary army intelligence evaluation found no evidence of them belonging to any group, rather they appear to have been a typical popular terror squad," an army spokeswoman said.

Hamas and the PFLP identified the three assailants as Bara Ata, 18, Osama Ata, 19, and Adel Ankush, 18, all from the village of Deir Abu Mashal near the West Bank city of Ramallah.

The Shin Bet said they had been implicated in previous "popular terror activity".

The PFLP said Bara and Osama Ata had recently been released from several months in Israeli prison.

The army sealed off the assailants` home village.

Elsewhere in the West Bank, a Palestinian "attempted to stab an Israeli" north of Hebron early Saturday, the army said.

The Israeli was lightly wounded and the assailant taken in for questioning.Israel had eased restrictions on the entry of Palestinians from the West Bank to Jerusalem for Ramadan.

But after Friday`s attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to cancel permission for Palestinians from the West Bank of all ages to visit family members in Jerusalem and Israel, police said.

Permits for Friday prayers for women of all ages and men aged 40 and over are to remain in place.

The unrest that broke out in October 2015 has claimed the lives of 272 Palestinians, 42 Israelis, two Americans, two Jordanians, an Eritrean, a Sudanese and a Briton, according to an AFP tally.

Israeli authorities say most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks.

Saturday was the first time IS had claimed an attack inside Israel or annexed east Jerusalem.

The jihadist group has a major presence across Israel`s southern border in Egypt`s Sinai Peninsula, from where it has claimed several rocket attacks from into Israel.
In two simultaneous attacks near the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem, an Israeli policewoman is fatally stabbed; the three Palestinian assailants are shot dead. ISIL claims were questioned by Israeli authorities. As well, the PFLP and Hamas claim it was their members who did it.