A Palestinian tried to stab a police officer at the entrance to the Old City in occupied east Jerusalem on Friday and was shot dead, Israeli police claimed.

"The terrorist was shot dead by a police officer after he had tried to stab her," a police statement said.

No police officers or civilians were injured.

Police said the alleged attacker was 28 and held a Jordanian passport, having crossed the border between the two countries on Thursday afternoon.

Many Palestinians also hold Jordanian passports.

The attack took place at the Damascus Gate entrance to Jerusalem's tourist-heavy Old City, the main entrance for Palestinians.

Since the start of October, Israeli occupation forces have killed at least 226 Palestinians. Meanwhile, almost daily stabbings, shootings and car-ramming attacks by frustrated and unarmed Palestinians have killed 34 Israelis and a US citizen.

The current wave of protests by Palestinians and repression by Israeli occupation forces started in July 2015 when toddler Ali Dawabsha was burned to death and three other Palestinians were severely injured after their house in the occupied West Bank was set on fire by Israeli settlers.

Settlement-building, racial discrimination, confiscation of identity cards, long queues at checkpoints, as well as daily clashes and the desecration of Al-Aqsa mosque, describe Palestinians' daily suffering.

The anger of Palestinian residents of Jerusalem has increased in the last three years after the Israeli authorities allowed increasing numbers of Jewish settlers to storm the Al-Aqsa mosque.

The surge in violence has been fuelled by Palestinians' frustration over Israel's 48-year occupation of land they seek for an independent state, and the expansion of settlements in those territories which were captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.

Palestinian leaders say a younger generation sees no hope for the future living under Israeli security restrictions and with a stifled economy. The latest round of U.S.-brokered peace talks collapsed in April 2014.

*The story was edited by Ahram Online.