JERUSALEM (AP) — A Palestinian gunman opened hearth exterior an east Jerusalem synagogue Friday evening, killing seven individuals, together with a 70-year-old lady, and wounding three others earlier than police shot and killed him, officers stated. It was the deadliest assault on Israelis in years and raised the chance of additional bloodshed.

The assault, which befell as worshippers have been celebrating the Jewish Sabbath, got here a day after an Israeli army raid killed 9 individuals within the West Financial institution. The brand new assault set off public celebrations in each the occupied West Financial institution and Gaza Strip, the place individuals fired weapons into the air, honked automobile horns and distributed sweets.

The burst of violence, which additionally included a rocket barrage from Gaza and retaliatory Israeli airstrikes, has posed an early problem for Israel’s new authorities, which is dominated by ultranationalists who’ve pushed for a tough line in opposition to Palestinian violence. It additionally solid a cloud over a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to the area Sunday.

Israeli police stated the assault occurred in Neve Yaakov, a Jewish space in east Jerusalem.

Jerusalem police chief Doron Turjeman instructed reporters the shooter was killed after making an attempt to flee. He confirmed seven deaths, along with the shooter, and stated three individuals have been wounded.

Police recognized the attacker as a 21-year-old east Jerusalem resident who apparently acted alone. Turjeman promised an “aggressive and important” effort to trace down anybody who had helped him.

Police additionally launched a photograph of the pistol it stated was utilized by the attacker.

Israel’s MADA rescue service stated the lifeless included a 70-year-old lady. Jerusalem’s Hadassah Hospital later stated a 15-year-old boy was recovering from surgical procedure.

The bloodshed was the deadliest on Israelis since a 2008 taking pictures killed eight individuals in a Jewish seminary in Jerusalem, in line with Israel’s International Ministry. Given the placement and timing, it threatened to set off a tricky response from Israel.

Protection Minister Yoav Gallant scheduled a gathering along with his military chief and different prime safety officers.

In a single day Thursday, Gaza militants fired a barrage of rockets into southern Israel, with all of them both intercepted or touchdown in open areas. Israel responded with a collection of airstrikes on targets in Gaza. No casualties have been reported. Earlier within the day, Gallant had ordered Israel to organize for brand new motion in Gaza “if mandatory.”

There was no speedy declare of accountability for Friday’s taking pictures. In Gaza, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem stated the assault was “a revenge and pure response” to the killing of 9 Palestinians in Jenin on Thursday.

At a number of areas throughout the Gaza Strip, dozens of Palestinians gathered in spontaneous demonstrations to have fun the Jerusalem assault, with some popping out of dessert retailers with massive trays of sweets to distribute. In downtown Gaza Metropolis, celebratory gunfire may very well be heard, as automobiles honked and calls of “God is nice!” wafted from mosque loudspeakers. Within the West Financial institution city of Jericho, Palestinians launched fireworks and honked horns in celebration.

The assault escalated tensions that have been already heightened following the lethal army raid Thursday within the West Financial institution city of Jenin — the place 9 individuals, together with not less than seven militants and a 61-year-old lady, have been killed. It was the deadliest single raid within the West Financial institution in twenty years. A tenth Palestinian was killed in separate combating close to Jerusalem.

Palestinians had marched in anger earlier Friday as they buried the final of the ten Palestinians killed a day earlier.

Scuffles between Israeli forces and Palestinian protesters erupted after the funeral for a 22-year-old Palestinian north of Jerusalem and elsewhere within the occupied West Financial institution, however calm prevailed within the contested capital and within the blockaded Gaza Strip for many of the day.

Indicators that the state of affairs was calming rapidly dissolved with the east Jerusalem taking pictures. Israel’s opposition chief, former Prime Minister Yair Lapid, known as it “horrific and heartbreaking.”

Neve Yaakov is a Jewish settlement in east Jerusalem that Israel considers to be a neighborhood of its capital. Israel claims all of Jerusalem as its undivided capital, whereas the Palestinians search east Jerusalem as a capital of their future state.

There was no speedy response from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Blinken’s journey is now prone to be targeted closely on decreasing the tensions. He’s prone to talk about the underlying causes of the battle that proceed to fester, the agenda of Israel’s new far-right authorities and the Palestinian Authority’s resolution to halt safety coordination with Israel in retaliation for the lethal raid.

The Biden administration has been deeply engaged with Israeli and Palestinian leaders in latest days, White Home Nationwide Safety Council spokesman John Kirby stated, underscoring the “pressing want right here for all events to deescalate to forestall the additional lack of civilian life and to work collectively to enhance the safety state of affairs within the West Financial institution.”

Whereas residents of Jerusalem and the occupied West Financial institution have been on edge, noon prayers Friday on the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, usually a catalyst for clashes between Palestinians and Israeli police, handed in relative calm.

Each the Palestinian rockets and Israeli airstrikes appeared restricted in order to forestall rising right into a full-blown warfare. Israel and Hamas have fought 4 wars and several other smaller skirmishes for the reason that militant group seized energy in Gaza from rival Palestinian forces in 2007.

Tensions have soared since Israel stepped up raids within the West Financial institution final spring, following a collection of Palestinian assaults. Jenin, which was an essential a militant stronghold throughout the 2000-2005 intifada and has once more emerged as one, has been the main focus of most of the Israeli operations.

Almost 150 Palestinians have been killed within the West Financial institution and east Jerusalem final 12 months, making 2022 the deadliest in those territories since 2004, in line with main Israeli rights group B’Tselem. Final 12 months, 30 individuals have been killed in Palestinian assaults in opposition to Israelis.

Up to now this 12 months, 30 Palestinians have been killed, in line with a rely by The Related Press.

Israel says many of the lifeless have been militants. However youths protesting the incursions and others not concerned within the confrontations even have been killed.

Anwar Gargash, a senior diplomat within the United Arab Emirates, warned that “the Israeli escalation in Jenin is harmful and disturbing and undermines worldwide efforts to advance the precedence of the peace agenda.” The UAE acknowledged Israel in 2020 together with Bahrain, which has remained silent on the surge in violence.

Within the West Financial institution, Fatah introduced a basic strike and most retailers have been closed in Palestinian cities. The PA stated Thursday it might halt the ties that its safety forces preserve with Israel in a shared effort to include Islamic militants. Earlier threats have been short-lived, partly due to the advantages the authority enjoys from the connection, and likewise as a consequence of U.S. and Israeli stress.

The PA has restricted management over scattered enclaves within the West Financial institution, and nearly none over militant strongholds just like the Jenin camp.

Israel says its raids are supposed to dismantle militant networks and thwart assaults. The Palestinians say they additional entrench Israel’s 55-year, open-ended occupation of the West Financial institution, which Israel captured together with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip within the 1967 Mideast warfare. The Palestinians need these territories to type any eventual state.

Israel has established dozens of settlements within the West Financial institution that home 500,000 individuals. The Palestinians and far of the worldwide neighborhood view settlements as unlawful and an impediment to peace, at the same time as talks to finish the battle have been moribund for over a decade.

Related Press author Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed.