Shira Banki Victim of Jerusalem Gay Parade Stabbing Dies of Her Wounds

One of the victims of Thursday's stabbing attack at the Jerusalem gay parade has succumbed to her wounds Sunday afternoon.

16-year-old Shira Banki died in hospital after being stabbed in the back by haredi extremist Yishai Schlissel, who attacked marchers at the annual Jerusalem gay parade.

Five other people were also injured in the attack, one of them seriously, before Schlissel was wrestled to the floor and disarmed by police.

Astonishingly, Schlissel had only been released several weeks beforehand, after serving 10 years in prison for an identical attack on the parade in 2005. Upon his release he had posted messages online denouncing the gay parade and calling for it to be stopped by any means; the fact that such a dangerous individual was able to get so close to the parade has prompted anger and accusations of police incompetence.

Police said on Sunday they had formed a committee to examine the "background and circumstances" that allowed the latest attack to take place.

The annual gay pride march through Jerusalem has been the source of heated controversy, due to the city's holy status to Jews, Christians and Muslims.

Since the 1990s, gay activist groups have held an annual mega-parade in the largely-secular Tel Aviv. However, in 2002 they began holding a smaller, far more contentious march through Jerusalem, amid bitter opposition from the city's largely traditional and religious residents.

Unlike the Tel Aviv event, the Jerusalem march is usually met with loud counter-protests, although for the most part in recent years these have remained peaceful.