Four Israelis were killed and several others wounded in a terror attack on Tuesday morning in a synagogue in the western Beit ul-Muqaddas (Jerusalem) neighborhood of Har Nof. Eight people were also wounded in the assault.
Two assailants were killed at the scene by police, Haaretz reported.
Israel Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said two assailants entered the synagogue on Tuesday with knives, axes and guns and attacked worshipers. The attackers were killed in a shootout with police.
Samri said the attackers were Palestinians from East Beit ul-Muqaddas.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said incitement by Hamas and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas motivated attacks on Jews.
“We will respond with a firm hand to this brutal murder of Jews.”
Abbas condemned the synagogue attack and called for end to Israeli ‘provocations.’
“The Palestinian presidency has always condemned the killing of civilians on either side, and condemns today the killing of worshippers at a synagogue in west Jerusalem,” a statement from his office said.
Hamas, however, praised Tuesday morning’s attack, describing it as “a quality development in the confrontation with the Israeli occupation.”
Tensions between Israelis and Palestinians have been running high lately. On Monday the conflict escalated further as a Palestinian bus driver was found hanged inside his vehicle at a depot in Beit ul-Muqaddas, with the Israeli police saying the man committed suicide, while the driver’s family claim he was lynched by Israelis. News of his death sparked protests in various Palestinian neighborhoods.
