Israel’s cabinet has authorised police to seal off “parts of Jerusalem”, in an attempt to halt a wave of deadly attacks.
After an emergency meeting, the cabinet said soldiers would also be deployed to help police in some areas.
The moves come after police said three Israelis were killed and more than 20 hurt in shooting and stabbing attacks in Jerusalem and central Israel.
Two attackers in Jerusalem, identified as Palestinian, were shot by police.
Police said they acted after the assailants shot and stabbed passengers on a bus.
Another Israeli died after being run down and stabbed elsewhere in the city, reports the BBC.
Later, a Palestinian was killed in clashes with Israeli forces in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, medics said.
Near-daily stabbings by Palestinians have left dozens of Israelis dead and wounded over the past fortnight. Several attackers and at least 18 other Palestinians have also been killed.
Tensions between Israelis and Palestinians have escalated since last month, fuelled by clashes at a flashpoint holy site in Jerusalem, in the West Bank, and across the Gaza border, as well as the wave of stabbings.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced the new measures after a crisis meeting of the country’s top security officials.
Many of the recent attackers were from Arab areas of East Jerusalem, Israeli officials said.
The cabinet said soldiers would also be deployed to make public transport safe, and specially trained security guards would be recruited later.
It said the authorities could demolish the homes of Palestinians who attacked Israelis and take away their right to live in Jerusalem.
Netanyahu said the new security measures would be aimed against “those who try murder and with all those who assist them”.
He also told Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to “stop lying, and stop inciting”.
Abbas has blamed “acts of aggression” by the Israeli authorities and Jewish settlers for the upsurge in violence.
In Tuesday’s bus attack, the two assailants shot several passengers and stabbed others on board the vehicle in East Talpiot, a district in East Jerusalem also known as Armon Hanatziv, Israeli police said.
One of the assailants reportedly locked the bus doors in an attempt to stop police from boarding it and passengers from escaping, but police opened fire from outside and shot him.
Minutes later, a man ran over three people with his car at a bus station in the Geula district of West Jerusalem. He then got out of the car and attacked them with a meat cleaver. The attacker was shot by a security guard and seriously wounded.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld identified all three attackers as residents of the Jabal Mukaber district of East Jerusalem.
