Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Jan 28: Seven people were killed at east Jerusalem synagogue by a gunman on Friday night in a dramatic upsurge of violence that followed a deadly raid in the west bank.
Israel’s police chief Kobi Shabtai called the shooting in the Neve Yaakov area “one of the worst attacks we have encountered in recent years.”
Police said in their statement, “Earlier this evening at around 8:30 pm (1830 GMT), a terrorist arrived at a synagogue in the Neve Yaakov boulevard in Jerusalem and proceeded to shoot at a number of people in the area.”
“As a result of the terror attack, seven civilians were pronounced dead and three additional civilians were injured. Police forces quickly arrived at the scene, engaged with the terrorist and opened fire at him. The terrorist was neutralized,” he added.
Police have identified the gunman as a Palestinian resident of east Jerusalem, which was annexed by Israel following the 1967 Six-Day War.
As the veteran prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu took power the surging violence comes a month after a new government was placed.
Netanyahu and his extreme-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visited the scene on Friday, as crowds chanted ‘death to Arabs,’ AFP journalists at the scene said.
Netanyahu said his security cabinet would soon announce immediate measures in response and urged Israelis not to take the law into their own hands, while speaking on television after visiting the scene.
State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told, “Our commitment to Israel’s security remains ironclad, and we are in direct touch with our Israeli partners.” US President Joe Biden spoke with Netanyahu to condemn what he called a ‘horrific terrorist attack’.
