British tourist stabbed to death in Jerusalem

She was attacked while she travelled on a light rail train near the Old City, which was packed as Christians celebrated Good Friday and Jews marked Passover.

Mark Regev, Israel’s ambassador to the UK, said: “My thoughts are with the family and friends of UK student Hannah Bladon, who was murdered in a senseless act of terror in Jerusalem today.”

Ms Bladon, a student at the University of Birmingham, had been on an exchange programme with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem since January.

The Rothberg school said: “Her friends described her as an inquisitive and adventurous student who made the most of her opportunity to learn and experience life in Israel.”

Ms Bladon was attacked by a Palestinian man who pulled a knife from his bag and repeatedly stabbed her as the tram neared Jerusalem’s City Hall. An off-duty policeman pulled an emergency brake and tried to intervene.

Paramedics treated her at the scene and rushed her to hospital but she later died.

A pregnant women and 50-year-old man were also injured in the incident when the tram came to a sudden stop and in the aftermath of the attack.

Police detained a 57-year-old man at the scene, and Superintendent Micky Rosenfeld said the attack was carried out by an “Arab terrorist” from Rasel Amud, in east Jerusalem.

Israeli intelligence services Shin Bet said the attacker had a history of mental illness, that he recently tried to commit suicide by swallowing a razor blade and that he was convicted of sexually abusing his daughter in 2011.

President Reuven Rivlin said he was “filled with sadness” about Ms Bladon’s death.