Damascus Gate at Jerusalem’s Old City. Photo: Wikipedia

Israeli police arrested a fourth teenager on Friday at the Shuafat Palestinian refugee camp near Jerusalem, who was part of a group of three other students planning to carry out a stabbing attack at the Damascus Gate in the Old City, Israel’s nrg news website reported.

Police questioning revealed that the suspects planned to launch the stabbing at Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate with knives they smuggled out of the refugee camp in a backpack.

The incident started Thursday morning when Israeli border police noticed one teenager, about 14-years-old, standing at the entrance to Shuafat, which lies northeast of Jerusalem.

On the other side of the road, police saw three other minors, two of whom were acting as lookouts for Israeli security forces. The 14-year-old boy quickly passed his backpack to another minor, just over 12-years-old, who was also waiting at the entrance to the refugee camp.

Afterward, the younger of the two boys handed the teenager inside the refugee camp a permit with another identity allowing him to leave the camp in the direction of Jerusalem, even though the minor had already been put under house arrest.

Police monitored the bag passing before apprehending the three teens, each between the ages of 12 and 14, who were waiting outside the entrance. The other boy, still inside the camp, evaded security forces until Friday morning.

The suspected teen told police he planned to cross the check point on a fake identity to join his friends in Jerusalem with the knives for the planned attack. Police took the suspect to the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court to request a custody extension.

Thursday and Friday’s arrests may have spared Jerusalem another of the stabbing attacks terrorizing the country, many of which have been committed by minors and young adults. Earlier this month, Israel deployed an additional 300 troops in and around Jerusalem and the rest of the country to prevent a further escalation in violence.