Palestinian gunman kills 7 near Israel synagogue in deadliest attack in years
- The incident in east Jerusalem was halted when the suspect was shot dead by police
- The attack comes a day after Israeli troops killed 9 Palestinians in a raid in the West Bank
A Palestinian gunman opened fire outside an east Jerusalem synagogue on Friday night, killing seven people, including a 70-year-old woman, and wounding three others before he was shot and killed by police, officials said. It was the deadliest attack on Israelis in years and raised the likelihood of more bloodshed.
The attack on worshippers celebrating the Jewish Sabbath came a day after an Israeli military raid killed nine people in the West Bank. The new attack set off celebrations in both the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, where people fired guns into the air, honked horns and distributed sweets.
The burst of violence, which also included a rocket barrage from Gaza and retaliatory Israeli air strikes, has posed an early challenge for Israel’s new government, which is dominated by ultranationalists who have pushed for a hard line against Palestinian violence. It also cast a cloud over a visit by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to the region on Sunday.
Addressing reporters at Israel’s national police headquarters, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had held a security assessment and decided on “immediate actions.” He said he would convene his Security Cabinet on Saturday night, after the end of the sabbath, to discuss a further response.
Netanyahu declined to elaborate but said Israel would act with “determination and composure.” He called on the public not to take the law into their own hands.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the US strongly condemned the attack and was “shocked and saddened by the lose of life”, noting it came on International Holocaust Remembrance Day. ″The United States will extend our full support to the government and people of Israel,” she said.
US officials said later Friday that President Joe Biden spoke with Netanyahu to offer Washington’s support to the government and people of Israel, calling the shootings “an attack against the civilised world.” “The President stressed the ironclad US commitment to Israel’s security,” the White House said of the call.