An Orthodox Jewish man prays at a synagogue near the scene of last night’s shooting near a synagogue in the Neve Yaakov district of Jerusalem, Israel, January 28, 2023.
Amir Levy | Getty Images News | Getty Images
The Israeli army said it was bolstering forces in the occupied West Bank after Palestinian gunmen shot dead seven people near a synagogue on the outskirts of the city.
Friday night’s shootings came a day after Israel’s deadliest raid on the West Bank in years and cross-border fires between Israel and Gaza that have heightened fears of a bloody spiral.
On Saturday, the Israeli ambulance service said two people were injured in what appeared to be another shooting attack.
Israeli police said the shooter in Friday’s attack was a 21-year-old Palestinian living in East Jerusalem who was believed to have acted alone in carrying out the attack in an area Israel annexed after the 1967 Middle East war. Said there was.
He tried to flee in his car, but was chased by police and shot dead. Police said 42 suspects, including family members of the perpetrator, had been arrested and authorities were on high alert.
The attacks underscored fears of an escalation of violence after months of clashes in the West Bank, which culminated in Thursday’s attacks in Jenin that killed at least nine Palestinians.
“Following an IDF (Israeli Defense Force) assessment of the situation, it was decided to strengthen the Judea-Samaria (West Bank) Division with an additional battalion,” the military said.
The outbreak of violence is the first major confrontation since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took office last month as head of a government that includes hardline nationalist parties.
After an evaluation with security officials, Netanyahu urged people not to take the law into his own hands, but said measures had been decided and the cabinet would meet on Saturday.
Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gubir visited the site of the attack and was greeted with a mixture of cheers and anger. “The government has to respond. God wants this to happen,” he told the waiting crowd.
condemnation
Friday’s shooting, which occurred on International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the Jewish Sabbath, has been condemned by the White House and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, expressing concern over the current escalation of violence and urging “maximum restraint”. bottom. This was days before Secretary of State Anthony Blinken was due to visit Israel and the West Bank.
Arab countries Jordan and Egypt, which have signed peace treaties with Israel, have condemned the attack, as have the United Arab Emirates, one of several Arab countries that normalized relations with Israel a little over two years ago. .
Lebanon’s Iran-backed group Hezbollah hailed the attack, while a spokesman for the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas said it was “a response to the crimes committed by the occupation of Jenin and a natural response to the crimes of the occupation.” It was praised as “a good response”.
A smaller extremist group, Islamic Jihad, also praised the attack without claiming responsibility.
In a sign of possible further escalation, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said on Friday that three Palestinians had been taken to hospital after being shot by Israeli settlers in an incident near the city of Nablus in the north of the West Bank. .
scene at the synagogue
Police said the Jerusalem shooter arrived at 8:15 p.m., opened fire with a handgun and attacked a number of people before being killed by police. “We got to the scene very quickly and it was terrifying. The injured were lying in the street,” said Shimon Al-Fasi of the Israeli Ambulance Service.
Earlier on Friday, militants in Gaza fired rockets into Israel, causing no casualties, but triggered airstrikes by Israeli jets, hitting targets in the blockaded coastal zone controlled by Hamas.
Violence in the West Bank surged after a series of deadly attacks in Israel last year. The recent season of violence began under the former coalition and continues under Netanyahu’s right-wing government, which includes parties that want to expand settlements in the West Bank.
At least 30 Palestinians have been killed this year before Friday’s shootings, and Palestinian authorities, which limit their authority to govern the West Bank, said they were suspending a security cooperation deal with Israel. Stated.