JERUSALEM, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Israeli police said Tuesday they have detained eight Palestinian merchants from East Jerusalem for not acting to prevent a deadly stabbing attack.

The arrests came in the wake of a stabbing attack in East Jerusalem's Old City on Sunday. Abdul Rahmani Faddal, a 28-year-old Palestinian from the West Bank village of Aqraba, stabbed Israeli Adiel Kolman, 32, before shot dead by Israeli police.

Kolman later succumbed to his wounds in a Jerusalem hospital.

A police statement said the detainees, aged 15-67, are suspected of "noticing what was happening but did not act to prevent or minimize the injury of the slain civilian."

Two of them were released after questioning and six others will be brought before court to remand their arrest in the afternoon.

Also on Tuesday, an Israeli military spokesperson said that its troops arrested 17 Palestinians and seized an illegally-held pistol during an overnight raid in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

An army statement said the detainees are suspected of being involved in "terrorist activities."

Tensions in the region rise ahead of the expected relocation of the United States embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in May and amidst a looming humanitarian crisis in the besieged Gaza Strip.