Israeli settler shot and seriously wounded a Palestinian woman after stabbing him in a new knife attack in Jerusalem's Old City on Wednesday, Israeli police said.

The 35-year-old man, who was armed, was only lightly wounded and managed to draw his gun after she stabbed him in the back, police spokeswoman Luba Samri said.

The woman was taken to hospital in serious condition, she added.

The stabbing happened in the alleyways of the Old City not far from the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound which has been the focus of three weeks of deadly violence in annexed east Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank, an AFP correspondent reported.

*The story was edited by Ahram online.