CNN
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Tensions between Israel and the Palestinian territories remain high after Friday’s shooting, which police chief Yaakov Shabtay described as “one of the worst terrorist attacks in years.” The shooter in that attack was also later killed by police, according to police.
Two people were injured in another shooting in Jerusalem’s City of David on Saturday, according to police and ambulance services. The victim, one in his 20s and one in his 40s or 50s, was taken to the trauma unit at Shaare Zedek Medical Center, according to the hospital.
“The suspect in the shooting was neutralized,” police said in a statement after a “massive police presence on the scene.” The incident is being treated as a suspected terrorist attack, according to a preliminary report issued by the Jerusalem police.
Friday’s shooter was later killed by police, police said. Police Chief Yaakov Shabtai described it as “one of the worst terrorist attacks in years.”
“Seven civilians were confirmed dead and three suffered additional minor injuries as a result of the shooting attack,” police said.
Five of the shooting victims were pronounced dead at the scene, according to Israel’s Magen David Adom (MDA) Emergency Rescue Service.Four men and one woman were taken to hospital. Another man and woman were confirmed dead. A 15-year-old boy was among the injured, according to the MDA.
A 15-year-old boy was among the injured, according to the MDA.
The attack occurred near the synagogue on Neve Yaakov Street at around 8:15 pm local time on Friday, according to a police statement.
Shabtai said the shooter “started shooting at anyone who stood in his way. He got in his car and started killing people with his pistol at point-blank range.” He later died, police said.
Police identified the shooter as a 21-year-old from East Jerusalem and said he appeared to have acted alone. East Jerusalem is a predominantly Palestinian part of the city that was occupied by Israel in 1967.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged people to oppose the retaliatory attacks on Friday night. There are forces, they will act and act according to the instructions of the Cabinet, ”he said.
Friday’s incident happened the next day worst day CNN records show that Palestinians in the West Bank have been
Israeli forces killed nine Palestinians and injured several others in the West Bank city of Jenin on Thursday, prompting Palestinian authorities to suspend security coordination with Israel, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. A tenth Palestinian was killed that day in what Israeli police called a “violent riot” near Jerusalem.
On Friday morning, at night local time, Israel launched airstrikes in the Gaza Strip after rockets were fired towards it.
![Israeli security forces search a vehicle at the site of a reported attack in the settler quarter of East Jerusalem, annexed by Israel, January 27, 2023.](https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/230127144957-03-jerusalem-shooting-0127.jpg?c=16x9&q=h_270,w_480,c_fill)
Israel’s controversial State Security Minister Itamar Ben Gubir visited the site of the attack on Friday night and told angrily chanting people, “This can’t go on.”
“I can teach you, [the people chanting] you are right. We bear the burden. It can’t go on like this,” said Ben Gubir, who heads the far-right Jewish Power Party.
Some people at the scene were voicing their support for Ben Guvir, saying, “You are our voice. We support you.”
CNN’s Hadas Gold and his team, who were also at the shooting site Friday night, heard celebratory gunshots and what sounded like car horns from a predominantly Palestinian neighborhood near Beit Hanina.
The White House on Friday condemned a “vicious terrorist attack” at a synagogue in Jerusalem, and the US government provided Israel with “full support,” White House press secretary Carine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.
The US State Department also condemned “in the strongest terms” an “obvious terrorist attack” in Jerusalem.
“This is absolutely terrifying,” said Vedant Patel, deputy spokesman for the State Department. “Our thoughts, prayers and condolences go out to those killed and injured in this heinous act of violence.”
Patel said it was expected that Secretary of State Anthony Brinken’s upcoming visits to Egypt, Israel and the West Bank would remain unchanged.
![Israeli State Security Minister Itamar Ben Gavir meets with the Israeli military on January 27, 2023.](https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/230127145055-04-jerusalem-shooting-0127.jpg?c=16x9&q=h_270,w_480,c_fill)
France, Germany and the UK also condemned the shooting. “We are appalled by reports of the horrific attack tonight at Neve Yaakov. Attacking worshipers at the Ereb Shabbat synagogue is a particularly horrifying act of terrorism. Britain stands with Israel,” said the British ambassador to Israel. Neil Wigan wrote on Twitter.
“We are appalled by reports of the horrific attack tonight at Neve Yaakov. Attacking worshipers at the Ereb Shabbat synagogue is a particularly horrifying act of terrorism. Britain stands with Israel,” said the British ambassador to Israel. Neil Wigan wrote on Twitter.
The EU’s ambassador to Israel, Dimitel Zanchev, also condemned “senseless violence” and tweeted that “terrorism is never the answer”.
The French embassy in Israel tweeted that the incident was “all the more despicable because it was committed on the day of international remembrance of the Holocaust.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also condemned Friday’s deadly attack, his spokesman said.
“It is particularly disgusting that the attack occurred at a place of worship and on the very day we commemorated International Holocaust Remembrance Day,” he said.
Guterres also expressed concern “about the current escalation of violence in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories” and urged everyone to “exercise maximum restraint”.