A Palestinian gunman opened fire outside an east Jerusalem synagogue Friday night, killing seven people, including a 70-year-old woman, and wounding three others before he was shot and killed by police, officials said.
The attack, which occurred as residents were observing the Jewish sabbath, came a day after an Israeli military raid killed nine people in the West Bank. The shooting set off celebrations in both the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, where people fired guns into the air, honked horns and distributed sweets.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the U.S. strongly condemned the attack and was "shocked and saddened by the loss of life," noting it came on International Holocaust Remembrance Day.Israeli police said the shootings occurred in Neve Yaakov, a neighbourhood with a large ultra-Orthodox population, and that the gunman fled in a car. Police said they chased after him and after an exchange of fire, killed him.
Israel's MADA rescue service said the dead were five men and two women, including several who were 60 or older. Jerusalem's Hadassah Hospital said a 15-year-old boy was recovering from surgery. At several locations across the Gaza Strip, dozens of Palestinians gathered in spontaneous demonstrations to celebrate the Jerusalem attack, with some coming out of dessert shops with large trays of sweets to distribute.
Neve Yaakov is a religious Jewish settlement that Israel considers to be a neighbourhood of its capital. Israel claims all of Jerusalem as its undivided capital, while the Palestinians seek east Jerusalem as a capital of their future state. Both the Palestinian rockets and Israeli airstrikes seemed limited so as to prevent growing into a full-blown war. Israel and Hamas have fought four wars and several smaller skirmishes since the militant group seized power in Gaza from rival forces in 2007.
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