A 16-year-old girl has died after being stabbed by a Jewish extremist during a Gay Pride parade in Jerusalem.

Shira Banki had been stabbed in the back, one of six people attacked during Thursday's event.

Hadar Elboim of Hadassah, a spokesman for the hospital where Shira died, said her organs would now be donated to help others.

Her attacker was later identified as Yishai Schlissel, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish man who had only been released from prison three weeks earlier and had spoken out against the parade after regaining his freedom.

He had been serving a ten-year jail sentence after attacking a Gay Pride parade in 2005, injuring three people.

Shira's family said in a statement that the "magical" teenager had been "murdered because she was a happy 16-year-old - full of life and love - who came to express her support for her friends' right to live as they choose".

They added: "For no good reason and, because of evil, stupidity and negligence, the life of our beautiful flower was cut short.
"Bad things happen to good people and a very bad thing happened to our amazing girl."

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country will adopt a 'zero tolerance' approach towards acts of terrorism and hate crimes.

Speaking after the Jerusalem attack and the death of a Palestinian toddler in the West Bank, The Jerusalem Post reports Mr Netanyahu announced he had "instructed security and law enforcement officials to use all legal means at their disposal to catch the killers and bring them to justice."

18-month-old Ali Dawabsheh was killed and several other people wounded in a fire suspected to be carried out by Jewish extremists on Friday.

Mr Netanyahu said he was "shocked over this reprehensible and horrific act".

"This is an act of terrorism in every respect. The state of Israel takes a strong line against terrorism regardless of who the perpetrators are," he said in a statement.

The child's parents and brothers are reported to be still fighting for their lives in hospital.

Thousands of Israelis took part in rallies in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa yesterday to protest against the attacks and extremist violence.

Most of Jerusalem's residents are conservative in their adherence to religion - be it Islam, Christianity or Judaism - but, although previous Gay Pride parades have prompted threats, violence towards homosexual people remains rare.