A Palestinian terrorist has stabbed an Israeli child at a petrol station near the Old City in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Police reported that the 15-year-old victim was in a moderate condition at Shaare Zedek Hospital, and that officers had shot the assailant dead at the scene.

The latest attack came after Jews marched towards the Old City on Saturday night in protest after terrorists murdered four people in three days.

Two men were killed and a woman and two-year-old toddler from the same ultra-Orthodox family were wounded in the Old City on Saturday, for which terrorist group Islamic Jihad has taken credit.

Israeli police named Mohammed Shafik Halabi, a 19-year-old resident who lived near Ramallah, as the killer.

Another terrorist attack on Thursday left a mother and father of four children in the West Bank dead.

In response to these events, police have barred Palestinians who do not live, work or study in the Old City from entering the territory for 48 hours.

The move, reported to be unprecedented, is intended to protect thousands of Jews coming to the Old City to celebrate Simchat Torah.

Speaking to Army Radio on Sunday morning, Minister of Intelligence Israel Katz said: “We will toughen our measures against the Palestinians. There could be a need for another Operation Defensive Shield,” the Jerusalem Post reported.

Operation Defensive Shield was a 2002 counter-terrorism offensive by the Israeli government in response to the suicide bombing campaign in Israeli cities during the Second Intifada.

Reacting to the terrorist attack in the Old City on Saturday, Middle East Minister Tobias Ellwood wrote online: “Strongly condemn this evening's fatal attack in Jerusalem. Thoughts are with families of victims. Important that all sides remain calm.”