Mideast unrest spreads to Gaza as stabbings continue

Israeli forces clashed with Palestinian demonstrators along the Gaza border on Friday, killing five of them, as a rash of stabbing attacks in Israel and the Palestinian territories, including the first apparent revenge attack by an Israeli, raised fears of wider unrest.

• Palestinians barred from part of Jerusalem after stabbing attacks
• Israeli police clash with Palestinian protesters at sensitive Jerusalem holy site

In the latest violence, stone-throwing Palestinians clashed with Israeli forces along the heavily guarded border.

The Israeli military said some in the crowd of 200 Palestinians from Gaza threw rocks and rolled burning tires at soldiers. It said Israeli forces opened fire at the main instigators to stop the advance.

In Jerusalem, a Palestinian wielding a vegetable peeler stabbed and wounded a 14-year-old Israeli on Friday before being arrested. In another attack near the entrance of Kiryat Arba, a West Bank settlement, a Palestinian was shot dead by a police officer after he attacked the officer with a knife and tried to seize his weapon, police said.

In northern Israel, a 29-year-old Arab-Israeli woman was shot and wounded while attempting to stab people at a bus station in the town of Afula, where another stabbing had taken place the day before, police said.

4 Arabs stabbed in Dimona

In what appeared to be the first revenge attack amid the wave of violence, an Israeli man stabbed and wounded four Arabs in the southern Israeli city of Dimona, a police official said.

After his arrest, the man allegedly said he carried out the attacks in retaliation for the numerous Palestinian attacks, Israeli media reported.

• Young Palestinians driving violence against Israel

Dimona Mayor Beni Bitton called the stabber a "mentally ill man." He told Channel 10 TV that two of the victims worked for city hall, and that passersby quickly rushed to provide first aid to the wounded Arabs.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "strongly condemned the harming of innocent Arabs," saying that anyone who resorts to violence will be brought to justice.

Four Palestinians have been killed while carrying out attacks against Israelis over the past week, while another three Palestinians were killed in protests and clashes in the West Bank. The Red Crescent medical service says over 500 Palestinians have been wounded in violent protests in the West Bank since the weekend, including about 100 from live fire.

Tensions high in Jerusalem

CBC's Margaret Evans reported on Friday from one potential flashpoint for another Palestinian uprising the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City, where two Jewish men died from stab wounds last Saturday in what is being described as "lone wolf" attacks.

Several Israel flags planted by ultra-nationalist Jews who want to settle in the district could be seen as Palestinians walked through the neighbourhood following Friday prayers atal-Aqsa mosque.

On one side of a barricade running the length of the narrow street, the Israeli government has ordered Palestinan shops to remain closed.

Click on the video above for more from Margaret Evans.