A Palestinian gunman killed seven individuals outdoors an east Jerusalem synagogue throughout the Jewish Sabbath on Friday, in one of many deadliest assaults focusing on Israelis in years that risked sparking widespread violence.

The capturing got here a day after a significant escalation within the Israeli-Palestinian battle, together with a military raid within the occupied West Bank that killed 9 individuals, rocket hearth from Gaza and retaliatory Israeli strikes.

Israel’s police chief Kobi Shabtai known as the capturing within the Neve Yaakov space “one of the worst attacks we have encountered in recent years.” It additionally fell on International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Police mentioned that “at around 8:15 pm (1815 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 mentioned.

They mentioned the gunman fled the scene in a automotive however was rapidly tracked down and killed in an “exchange of fire” with police.

Police have recognized the gunman as a Palestinian resident of east Jerusalem, which was annexed by Israel following the 1967 Six-Day War.

The surging violence comes a month after a brand new authorities, led by veteran Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, took energy.

Netanyahu and his extreme-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visited the scene on Friday, as crowds chanted “death to Arabs,” AFP journalists on the scene mentioned.

Speaking on tv after visiting the scene, Netanyahu mentioned his safety cupboard would quickly announce “immediate measures” in response and urged Israelis to not “take the law into their own hands.”

– ‘Horrific’ –

Shalom Borohov, a barber who lives close to the synagogue, advised AFP that after listening to gunshots he “went down to help people”.

“I saw the terrorist arriving with his car. He stopped in the middle of the junction, and shot from his car,” persevering with to shoot as individuals got here to the scene, he mentioned.

Matanel Almalem, an 18-year-old pupil who lives close by, advised AFP that he ran right down to the road after listening to the capturing and noticed the gunman in a white Toyota Corolla.

“I heard a lot of shooting,” he mentioned.

US President Joe Biden spoke with Netanyahu to sentence what he known as a “horrific terror attack”.

“The president made clear that this was an attack against the civilised world,” the White House mentioned in a readout of the decision, including that Biden additionally “stressed the ironclad US commitment to Israel’s security”.

Just hours earlier, Washington had urged “de-escalation” over the West Bank violence and Gaza rocket hearth.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the synagogue capturing as “abhorrent,” whereas France known as it “appalling.”

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, who was on a household go to to the US, has minimize brief his journey and is returning to Israel, his workplace advised AFP.

“The attack against civilians this Friday evening was horrific,” Gallant mentioned in an announcement, vowing to “operate decisively and forcefully against terror” and “reach anyone involved in the attack”.

In Gaza and several other places throughout the West Bank, Palestinians celebrated the assault, together with in Ramallah, the place massive crowds cheered and waved Palestinian flags.

– Jenin raid –

Nine individuals had been killed Thursday in what Israel described as a “counter-terrorism” operation within the Jenin refugee camp.

It was one of many deadliest Israeli military raids within the occupied West Bank because the second intifada, or Palestinian rebellion, of 2000 to 2005.

Israel mentioned Islamic Jihad operatives have been the goal.

Islamic Jihad and Hamas each vowed to retaliate, later firing a number of rockets at Israeli territory.

Most of the rockets have been intercepted by Israeli air defences. The army responded with strikes on Hamas targets in Gaza.

There have been no accidents reported on both facet, however Gaza’s armed teams vowed additional motion.

After the synagogue capturing, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem mentioned the assault proved “the resistance knows how to find the appropriate response” to Israeli “crimes”.

Washington had introduced Thursday that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken would journey subsequent week to Israel and the Palestinian territories, the place he would push for an “end to the cycle of violence”.

A State Department spokesman confirmed on Friday that the go to would go forward and mentioned Blinken would focus on “steps to be taken to de-escalate tensions”.

At least 26 Israelis and 200 Palestinians have been killed throughout Israel and the Palestinian territories in 2022, the bulk within the West Bank, in keeping with an AFP tally from official sources.