JERUSALEM: A day after the deadliest Israeli raid in the West Bank in years, a Palestinian gunman attacked a synagogue outside of Jerusalem on Friday, killing seven people and injuring three others. This increased concerns about a bloody domino effect.
Before being shot and killed by police, the gunman is said to have arrived at the scene around 8.15 p.m. and started firing, hitting a number of people. TV footage showed several victims being treated by emergency personnel while they were lying in the road outside the synagogue.
"We arrived at the scene extremely quickly, and it was horrible. "Injured people are lying on the street," said Shimon Alfasi, from the Israeli ambulance service.
After months of clashes in the West Bank that culminated in a raid in Jenin on Thursday that left at least nine Palestinians dead, the attack, which police described as a "terrorist incident," highlighted concerns about a rise in violence.
According to a statement from the police, the shooter was a 21-year-old Palestinian based in East Jerusalem who appeared to have operated alone in carrying out the attack in a region that Israel annexed to Jerusalem following the 1967 Middle East conflict.
It stated that he attempted to flee in a car but was shot dead by police after being chased.
News of the attack sparked spontaneous street gatherings and bursts of celebratory gunfire in Ramallah, the largest city in the occupied West Bank and Gaza. Meanwhile, outside Jerusalem's Hadassah Hospital, where some of the injured were treated, crowds chanted "Death to Terrorists."
Three Palestinians were taken to the hospital after being shot by an Israeli settler in an incident close to the northern West Bank city of Nablus, according to the Palestinian health ministry, indicating the possibility of further escalation. It also stated that a 16-year-old Palestinian victim of an Israeli shooting on Wednesday died as a result of his injuries.
The White House and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres denounced Friday's shooting, which took place on International Holocaust Remembrance Day during Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest, and urged "utmost restraint." Itamar Ben-Gvir, the minister of national security in Netanyahu's new government and the head of one of the hardline nationalist parties, visited the scene of the attack. He was greeted there with a mix of applause and rage. He told the gathered people, "God willing, this is what will happen. The government has to respond."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's new right-wing administration has vowed to press ahead with plans to expand settlements in the West Bank. There are fears that the conflict could spiral out of control and lead to a broader confrontation between Israelis and Palestinians.
Before Friday's shooting, at least 30 Palestinians had been killed so far this year, and the Palestinian Authority, which has limited governing powers in the West Bank, said it was suspending a security cooperation arrangement with Israel.
Jenin refugee camp has been a center of militant activity and the target of repeated Israeli raids. Residents say Thursday's operation penetrated unusually deeply into the camp, which is home to thousands of Palestinians.
A two-story building at the center of the fighting was heavily damaged, and nearby houses were tainted black from smoke. In another area, cars had been crushed by Israeli bulldozers used in the operation.
According to Palestinian officials, CIA Director William Burns will meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday. Burns was visiting Israel and the West Bank as part of a trip planned prior to the most recent violence. American representatives in Jerusalem were unavailable for comment at the time.
Despite having ordered security forces to be on alert, Netanyahu, who returned to power this year as the leader of one of Israel's most right-wing governments in history, stated on Thursday that Israel was not seeking to escalate the situation.