Jerusalem is in a state of maximum alert this Saturday after being the epicenter of two firearm attacks in less than 24 hours, which so far have left seven Israelis dead and five wounded, amid an escalation of violence in the area. .
The latest attack occurred in the morning at the City of David Jewish settler settlement, located within the Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan, in occupied East Jerusalem.
“As a result of the shooting there are two injured. The suspect in the shooting was neutralized,” the police said in a statement about the attacker, identified as a 13-year-old Palestinian resident of East Jerusalem.
The assailant “was wounded and overpowered” at the scene by armed Israeli civilians, and the pistol he used in the attack was seized by police on the spot, labeled “terrorist.”
The attacker, who would have acted alone, is in “serious condition”, according to official Israeli Army radio.
The victims of this attack were father and son, volunteers for the Israeli emergency service Magen David Adom, according to the local press.
This attack followed another that occurred on Friday night, when a gunman opened fire near a synagogue located in Neve Ya’akov, a Jewish settler settlement also in occupied East Jerusalem, killing seven people and injuring three more.
It is the deadliest attack since 2011, when an armed group crossed into Israel from Egypt’s Sinai peninsula, killing eight Israelis.
The then Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his Minister of National Security, the extremist and anti-Arab settler Itamar Ben Gvir, went to the scene but without making a statement to the press.
alert status
“The Police Commissioner, Chief Superintendent Yaakov Shabtai, ordered to raise the alert to the highest level. Since this morning, the officers have been working 12-hour shifts,” the police said in a statement, asking the public to “report any suspicious person or object.”
“As part of the investigation into the shooting attack, during the night (Friday) and morning (Saturday), the Jerusalem District Police arrested 42 suspects, some of them from the terrorist’s family, relatives and associates.” added the same source.
Most were arrested at night after Israeli forces patrolled the home of the attacker, an inhabitant of occupied East Jerusalem, to “examine thoroughly the connection between each of the arrested suspects and the terrorist who carried out the attack, as well as the scope of their knowledge and/or participation”, explained the Police.
The attacker drove near the synagogue, opened fire and attempted to drive away. After a chase and shooting, the uniformed officers killed him and he seized his weapon.
Although the identity of the assailant in this attack has not yet been revealed, the local press identifies him as a 21-year-old Palestinian, with no history of terrorism crimes.
Arriving at the scene of the crime, paramedics from the Israeli emergency service Magen David Adom declared five people dead. Five other injured people were taken to hospital, but two died while receiving medical attention, including a 70-year-old woman.
“A 15-year-old boy was lying at the entrance to the street, shot in the upper part of the body. We provided medical treatment and transported him to the hospital with his mother. He was immediately taken to the operating room ”, commented the paramedic Lior Shasha, about the attack last night.
The teenager is hospitalized in serious condition and there are two other people in moderate condition.
reactions
Israeli allies around the world condemned the attack in Jerusalem.
“This is absolutely horrible. Our thoughts, prayers, and condolences are with those killed and injured in this heinous act of violence. We strongly condemn this apparent terrorist attack,” said Vedant Patel, deputy spokesman for the US State Department.
The US ambassador to Israel, Thomas Nides, also denounced the shooting, expressing shock at the “horrible act of violence”, as did the European Union envoy to the Jewish state and the French embassy, among others.
However, several Palestinians celebrated the attacks with shouts and applause at the crime scenes, and in different cities of the occupied West Bank, such as Ramallah, Nablus, Jenin or several neighborhoods in East Jerusalem.
From Gaza, Palestinian militias of Hamas and Islamic Jihad celebrated the attack as a “heroic act” in revenge for the death Thursday of nine Palestinians in heavy armed clashes with Israeli troops during a raid on the Jenin refugee camp, focus of the Palestinian militia movement in the West Bank.
This raid was described as a “massacre” by the Palestinian National Authority, which broke the security cooperation channel with Israel.
Immediately afterwards, several rockets were launched from Gaza at Israel, which responded with bombardments in the coastal enclave.
The Israeli prison service reported this Saturday that it has sanctioned dozens of security prisoners with solitary confinement “as punishment for having expressions of joy, such as chants and applause, after last night’s attack.”
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