Two Israelis have been shot in occupied East Jerusalem hours after a gunman killed seven people outside a synagogue, as the worst violence in years across Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories continues to escalate.
Israel’s ambulance service said a father and son, in their 50s and 20s, were badly hurt in the incident in a Jewish neighbourhood near the Old City on Saturday morning. Police said the assailant had been shot by an armed passerby. There were conflicting reports on his condition.
Police identified the attacker as a 13-year-old boy and unconfirmed Arabic and Hebrew media reports said he was from the nearby Palestinian neighbourhood of Silwan.
Saturday’s shooting came after a Palestinian gunman killed seven people, including children, near a synagogue on the outskirts of East Jerusalem as they were leaving Shabbat prayers on Friday night. The attack in the Israeli settlement of Neve Yaakov was the worst targeting Israelis in years.
The 21-year-old suspect was shot and killed as he tried to flee, police said. Forty-two people, including members of the gunman’s family, were arrested overnight in connection with the attack. Israeli police and the army have been put on high alert and extra troops have been posted to Jerusalem and the West Bank in anticipation of more violence.
The Neve Yaakov attack, in turn, came a day after the deadliest Israeli army raid in the West Bank in two decades, in which nine Palestinians were killed, including two civilians.
Thursday morning’s operation targeted Islamic Jihad militants in the Jenin refugee camp in the north of the occupied West Bank, triggering tit-for-tat rocket fire between the Gaza Strip and Israel in the early hours of Friday and sparking fears of a conflagration in the decades-long conflict.
The Palestinian Authority, which has limited control over parts of the West Bank, said it would suspend security cooperation with Israel in response to the Jenin raid.
Last year was the bloodiest in Israel and the West Bank since 2004, with about 150 Palestinians and 30 Israelis killed. Another 49 Palestinians died in the Gaza Strip in a surprise three-day Israeli bombing campaign in August.
Thirty-two Palestinians have been killed so far this month.
Illustrating the potential for further escalation, the Palestinian health ministry said on Friday night 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.
The US state department, along with the UN and other international mediators, has urged “utmost restraint” from both sides to de-escalate the situation.
This week’s bloodshed comes just after the re-election of the longtime Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who is now at the helm of the most extremist government in Israeli history.
Netanyahu’s coalition of religious and far-right parties has vowed stricter policies towards the Palestinians, including loosening the rules of engagement for soldiers and police, and the acceleration of Jewish settlement building in the West Bank.
Netanyahu vowed on Saturday evening to take forceful and timely measures after the two attacks.
“Our response will be strong, swift and accurate,” he said before a meeting of the security cabinet. “We’re not seeking an escalation but are prepared for any scenario.”
