Netanyahu: Israel 'in fight to death against Palestinian terror'

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday Israel was "waging a fight to the death against Palestinian terror", and ordered tough new measures after the killing of two Israelis in Jerusalem, AFP reports.

"These steps include, among others, speeded up demolition of terrorists' homes," he said in a video address distributed by his office.

Netanyahu had convened his ministers of defence and internal security and top security officials immediately after landing back in Israel Sunday from delivering a speech to the UN General Assembly.

He said he instructed them on steps "to prevent terror and deter and punish the attackers".

They would also include broader use of detention without trial for suspects, further reinforcement of security forces in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank and restraining orders keeping unspecified "inciters" away from the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound, which he called by its Jewish name of Temple Mount.

Earlier Sunday, police took the rare and drastic step of barring Palestinians from Jerusalem's Old City in the wake of an attack there Saturday in which a Palestinian killed two Israelis and wounded a child and a further stabbing Sunday morning in which an Israeli teen was wounded.