The police speak of a terrorist attack. Two men suffered gunshot wounds to the upper body, their condition was “moderate to serious,” said a spokesman for the emergency services. The alleged assassin was “neutralized”, according to the police. It remained unclear whether he was injured or dead. The public broadcaster Kan reported that the attacker was only 13 years old.
Saturday’s attack occurred in the Silwan district of East Jerusalem. Mostly Palestinians live here. Israel conquered the West Bank and East Jerusalem in 1967. In total, more than 600,000 Israeli settlers live in these areas today. The Palestinian Authority blamed Israel for the renewed violence. Israel bears “full responsibility for the dangerous escalation,” the authority said on Saturday. She did not comment specifically on the two attacks.
Dozens arrested after Friday attack
Friday’s attacker was shot dead as he tried to flee, police said. According to initial findings, it was a 21-year-old from East Jerusalem. He is said to have waited in front of the synagogue in New Yaakov, an Israeli settlement in occupied East Jerusalem, until the believers left the synagogue. Then he opened fire.
Police arrested dozens of people after Friday’s attack. The police said on Saturday that among the 42 people arrested for questioning were family members of the assassin and other residents of his district. According to initial findings, the assassin did not belong to an armed Palestinian group, nor was he involved in militant activities.
Another attack in Jerusalem
After a man shot dead seven people in Jerusalem on Friday, there was another gun attack there. The 13-year-old alleged perpetrator is said to have injured two men.
Israel strengthens forces in the West Bank
The police were put on high alert after the attack. Israel’s police chief Kobi Schabtai spoke of “one of the worst attacks in recent years”. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced “immediate countermeasures”.
Netanyahu and right-wing extremist Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir visited the crime scene in the evening. Netanyahu called on the population not to take the law into their own hands. “We have an army and a police force for this, which receive instructions from the cabinet.” The Israeli military announced on Saturday that it would reinforce the armed forces in the West Bank with an additional battalion.
international dismay
The attack on Holocaust Remembrance Day sparked international outrage. Numerous states condemned the attack, including the EU, USA, France, Great Britain, Jordan, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Ukraine and Russia.
The European Union called on Israel to use deadly force only as a “last resort,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Saturday. The EU condemns the attacks in Jerusalem as “acts of insane violence and hatred,” Borrell said. He also noted in his statement that Israeli security forces had killed 30 Palestinians in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. There is an urgent need to make significant efforts to get peace talks going again, Borrell said. “We appeal to all parties not to react to provocations.”
“Spiral of Violence”
French President Emmanuel Macron warned the parties to the conflict “to avoid a spiral of violence at all costs”. The Austrian Foreign Ministry also condemned the attack “strongly”. “There is no excuse for attacking places of worship,” the State Department wrote on Twitter. Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen called for de-escalation.
The US described Friday’s attack as “absolutely appalling”. Washington condemns this “suspected terrorist attack in the strongest possible terms,” said a spokesman for the State Department in Washington.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken wants to try to de-escalate during an upcoming visit to the Middle East on Monday and Tuesday. He wants to travel to Israel, the occupied West Bank and Egypt. He will meet Netanyahu for the first time since he took office as head of the far right-wing Israeli government. A meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is also planned.
Russia also called on the parties to the conflict to exercise “the greatest possible restraint”. “We are deeply concerned by the development of events,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the attacks as cynical terrorist attacks.
praise from Hezbollah
Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank responded with celebrations. Eyewitnesses reported militants shooting up in the air and pouring into the streets on Friday night. A spokesman for Gaza’s ruling Hamas said the attack was “in retaliation for the Israeli army’s attack on the Jenin refugee camp on Thursday.” Iran-backed Hezbollah praised the attack.
“Anti-terror operation” in refugee camps
The attacks in Jerusalem came shortly after an Israeli raid on the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank last Thursday. The Israeli army spoke of an “anti-terrorist operation”. In addition, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, a man was killed by Israeli soldiers in al-Ram near Jerusalem on Thursday. In response, Palestinian militants fired rockets, which were intercepted.
The Palestinian Authority announced its cooperation with Israel on security issues on Thursday evening. The authority cited unilateral steps and measures taken by Israel in the West Bank and the incidents in Jenin as the reason. The autonomy authority had made similar announcements on previous occasions, but they were not actually implemented.
