JERUSALEM — Three Israelis were killed and nearly two dozen injured in a series of Palestinian attacks Tuesday, sparking calls by Israeli officials to cordon off Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem and a decision by the security cabinet to place soldiers in city centers to support the police. The moves came amid rising bloodshed and unrest on a “day of rage” proclaimed by Palestinian groups.

Almost two weeks of daily violence, including a spate of attacks by knife-wielding Palestinian teenagers, have left Israelis deeply shaken and fearful of another sustained Palestinian uprising.

A Palestinian woman uses a slingshot during clashes with Israeli troops in the West Bank city of Bethlehem on Tuesday. The Associated Press

In Tuesday’s attacks, Palestinians used knives, a car, a gun and a meat cleaver to kill and injure Jewish Israelis. As many as 22 Israelis were reported wounded.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Israeli parliament: “Israel will settle the score with the murderers and those who help them. We will cut the hands of whoever tries to hurt us.”

Palestinian leader and former peace negotiator Saeb Erekat blamed the Israelis for the escalation. He charged that Israel’s 48-year military occupation of the West Bank has spread “a culture of hate and racism that justifies atrocities, including collective punishment and cold-blooded executions.”

Eight Israelis have been slain and dozens have been wounded in the last couple of weeks, while at least 28 Palestinians have been killed by Israelis. According to Israeli authorities, a dozen of the slain Palestinians were attackers; the rest died in clashes with Israeli forces.

Israeli and Palestinian leaders accuse each other of incitement, but Palestinian leaders appear to have little control over the actions of the mostly young attackers.

In the most serious attack Tuesday, two Palestinian assailants boarded a bus in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Armon Hanatziv and began shooting and stabbing passengers, Israeli police said.

The attack harkened back to early last decade – during the second Palestinian uprising, or intifada – when buses were among the main targets.

Ruby Matbi, 18, was on the bus when the attack started. “There was shooting and then the bus driver got out and ran,” he told Walla News, an Israeli website. “I fought with the terrorist and then I managed to get away from him and open the door of the bus and let everyone get out.”

One of the Palestinians was shot dead at the scene, and the other was wounded and later died at a hospital, said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld.

In another attack, a Palestinian rammed his car into a group of elderly ultra-Orthodox Jews and then emerged from his car wielding a meat cleaver.

As an edgy atmosphere of fear and vengeance spread, a young Jewish Israeli stalked an Ikea parking lot in Kiryat Ata, a town in northern Israel, apparently looking for Arabs to attack. He repeatedly stabbed a man who turned out to be Jewish himself.

Israeli media reported that of 23 attacks by Palestinians against Israelis in the past two weeks, 18 were carried out by East Jerusalem residents.

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