Condemnation
Friday’s shooting, on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, was condemned by the White House and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who urged “utmost restraint”. This came days ahead of a planned visit by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Israel and the West Bank.
Jordan and Egypt, Arab countries that have signed peace treaties with Israel, condemned the shooting, as did the United Arab Emirates, one of several Arab states that normalized relations with Israel two years ago. .
Lebanon’s Iran-backed group Hezbollah praised the attack and a spokesman for the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas hailed it as “a response to the crime committed by the occupation in Jenin and a natural response to the criminal acts of the occupation”.
The smaller militant group Islamic Jihad also praised the attack without claiming responsibility.
Reflecting the simmering violence, the Palestinian health ministry said Friday that three Palestinians were taken to hospital after being shot by an Israeli settler in an incident near the northern West Bank city of Nablus.
scene in the synagogue
Police said the gunman in Friday’s attack arrived in Jerusalem at 8:15 p.m. and opened fire with a handgun, killing several people, before being killed by police.
Shimon Israel, 56, who lives nearby, said his family was starting to eat on the Sabbath when they heard gunshots and screams. He opened the window and saw his neighbor running across the street to call the police.
“I told him ‘Allie, don’t go there. Allie don’t go.’ He was married only a year ago. A good neighbor, like a brother. He ran. I saw him fall right there,” Israel told Reuters.
“Natalie, his wife, ran after him. She saw someone here and was trying to revive him. The terrorist came and shot him in the back and caught him too,” he said.
Earlier on Friday, militants in Gaza fired rockets at Israel, causing no casualties, but Israeli jets carried out airstrikes that were hitting targets in the blockaded coastal strip controlled by Hamas.
Violence escalated in the West Bank after a spate of deadly attacks in Israel last year. The latest round of violence began under the previous coalition government and has continued under Netanyahu’s right-wing administration, which includes groups that want to expand settlements in the West Bank.
Prior to Friday’s shooting, at least 30 Palestinians – militants and civilians – had been killed this year and the Palestinian Authority, which has limited power to govern the West Bank, said it was suspending a security cooperation arrangement with Israel. doing.