The US Embassy in Israel has issued a recommendation for embassy officials and their families to refrain from visiting the Old City of Jerusalem after the murder of an Israeli in the area by a Hamas member on November 21, Israeli state radio Kan reported.

Due to recent security incidents in and around the Old City of Jerusalem, US government officials and their families have been advised to avoid visiting the Old City until further notice, the radio station referred to a US embassy spokesman.

On Sunday morning, an Israeli was killed and three others were injured in varying degrees of severity in an automatic firearm attack in the Old City of Jerusalem by a resident of the Palestinian refugee camp in the eastern part of the city. The attacker was killed by return fire from Israeli police.

The radical Palestinian organization Hamas, ruling in the Gaza Strip, claimed responsibility for the attack.