ARAB CONDEMNDATION
Israel’s police chief Kobi Shabtai called the synagogue shooting “one of the worst attacks (Israel) has encountered in recent years”.
Several Arab nations that have ties with Israel – including Egypt, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates – condemned Friday night’s shooting.
But the Lebanese group Hezbollah, one of Israel’s most prominent foes, praised the attack as “heroic”, voicing “absolute support for all the steps taken by the Palestinian resistance factions”.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he was “deeply shocked” by the “terrible” Jerusalem attacks and that his country “stands by the side of Israel”.
French President Emmanuel Macron said a “spiral of violence must be avoided at all costs”.
The gunman at the synagogue was killed by police during a shootout that followed a brief car chase after the attack.
There has been no indication that he had prior involvement in militant activity or was a member of an established Palestinian armed group.
“The Jerusalem District Police and border police fighters arrested 42 suspects – some of them from the terrorist’s (immediate) family, relatives and (neighbours),” a police statement said.
“The police will thoroughly examine the connection between each of the arrested suspects and the terrorist who carried out the attack, as well as the extent of their knowledge and/or involvement,” it added.
Israel annexed east Jerusalem following the 1967 Six-Day War. Palestinians claim the area as the capital of their future state.
ESCALATING VIOLENCE
Nine people had been killed Thursday in what Israel described as a “counter-terrorism” operation in the Jenin refugee camp.
It was one of the deadliest Israeli army raids in the West Bank since the second intifada, or Palestinian uprising, of 2000 to 2005.
Israel said Islamic Jihad operatives were the target.
Islamic Jihad and Hamas both vowed to retaliate, later firing several rockets at Israeli territory.
Most of the rockets were intercepted by Israeli air defences. The military responded with strikes on Hamas targets in Gaza.
There were no injuries reported on either side, but Gaza’s armed groups vowed further action.
After the synagogue shooting, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said the attack proved “the resistance knows how to find the appropriate response” to Israeli “crimes”.
Washington had announced Thursday that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken would travel next week to Israel and the Palestinian territories, where he would push for an “end to the cycle of violence”.
A US State Department spokesman confirmed on Friday that the visit would go ahead and said Blinken would discuss “steps to be taken to de-escalate tensions”.
At least 26 Israelis and 200 Palestinians were killed across Israel and the Palestinian territories in 2022, the majority in the West Bank, according to an AFP tally from official sources.
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