A Palestinian gunman killed at least seven people and wounded others in an attack on a synagogue on the outskirts of Jerusalem on Friday that raised fears of an escalation in violence, the day after Israel’s deadliest operation in the West Bank in years.
Police said the gunman arrived at around 8:15 p.m. local time and opened fire, injuring several people, before being killed by police.
The attack, which police described as a “terrorist incident”, underscores fears of an escalation in violence after months of clashes in the West Bank that culminated in a raid on Thursday that left at least nine Palestinians dead in Jenin.
After earlier reports that at least 10 people were wounded, a Jerusalem police official said seven were killed and three wounded. He said the gunman initially managed to escape from the police before being shot dead.
No group has claimed responsibility for the temple attack, which took place while worshipers were attending Saturday prayers on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, but a spokesman for the Islamic movement Hamas said the attack was linked to the Jenin raid.
Israeli media said the Palestinian gunman was a 21-year-old resident of East Jerusalem, but no information was immediately available about what prompted him to carry out the attack, which took place in an area annexed by Israel after the 1967 war.
A crowd of people gathered in front of Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, where some of the wounded are being treated, and chanted, “Death to the terrorists.” In a sign of the possibility of further escalation, three Palestinians were taken to hospital after being shot in an incident near the city of Nablus in the northern West Bank.
The shooting came, Friday, days before US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s visit to Israel and the West Bank.
The US State Department issued a statement condemning the attack and saying there had been no change in Blinken’s travel plans.
The Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, the leader of one of the ultra-nationalist parties in the new government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, visited the site of the attack, and was met with a mixture of welcome and disapproval.
“The government has to respond, and this is what will happen,” he told a crowd. Earlier on Friday, Israeli jets bombed the Gaza Strip in response to rocket attacks that set off alarms in Israeli communities near the border with the besieged southern coastal enclave controlled by Hamas.
Netanyahu also visited the site of the operation, and said that immediate action had been taken. On Saturday, the cabinet will hold a meeting to approve decisions and measures that will serve as an Israeli response to the attack.
In August, Israeli jets bombed targets in Gaza during a weekend standoff that saw Islamic Jihad fire hundreds of missiles at Israel, most of which were intercepted by air defense systems.
Serious concern
Months of simmering violence, which escalated after a series of deadly attacks in Israel last year, has raised fears that the conflict could spiral out of control, leading to a broader confrontation between the Palestinians and Israel.
The latest season of violence began under the previous coalition government and continued after the election of the new right-wing government of Benjamin Netanyahu, which includes ultra-nationalist parties that want to expand settlements in the West Bank.
After a raid on Thursday, the Palestinian National Authority, which has limited powers to govern in the West Bank, announced the end of security coordination with Israel.
In the Jenin refugee camp, a densely populated cluster of buildings and alleys that has been a hub of militant activity and a target of frequent Israeli raids, residents said Thursday’s operation made an unusual incursion into the camp.
A two-storey building in the epicenter of the fighting was badly damaged, and nearby houses were blackened by smoke. In another area of the camp, Israeli bulldozers crushed the cars that were used in the operation.
The US State Department issued a statement Thursday expressing “grave concern” about the violence in the West Bank and urging both sides to de-escalate the conflict.
Palestinian officials said the United Nations, Egypt and Qatar also called for calm.
Palestinian officials said CIA director William Burns, who is in Israel and the West Bank on a trip arranged before the latest violence, would meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday.
It was not possible to obtain comment from US officials in Jerusalem. Netanyahu, who returned to power this year at the helm of one of the most extreme right-wing governments in Israel’s history, said Israel was not looking to escalate the situation, but he ordered security forces to remain on alert.