US and UK condemned attack on a synagogue in east Jerusalem
RELIGIONS NEWS AGENCY (REDNA) – The US and UK condemned the shooting attack on a synagogue in east Jerusalem.
As “Muslim News” reported at least seven people killed in the attack.
The shooter a Palestinian man aged 21, identified as Khairi Alkam was shot and killed by Israeli police.
According to Al Jazeera, Alkam’s grandfather and namesake was stabbed to death by an Israeli settler in 1998.
Israel built the illegal Neve Yaakov settlement in 1967 in occupied East Jerusalem.
The attack came just a day after ten Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces – nine in Jenin, and one in Jerusalem.
Since the beginning of January, 33 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces, including several children, while no Israelis were killed until this attack.
During the Israeli assault in Jenin Thursday, in addition to killing nine Palestinians, the Israeli military also blocked ambulances from reaching the hospital and fired tear gas into a children’s ward at the hospital.
A Palestinian boy was seriously injured by Israeli gunfire on Wednesday during clashes in the occupied East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan and and died Thursday.
Wadee’ Abu Rumouz, 16, was shot in the chest on Wednesday during clashes with Israeli occupation forces in Silwan neighborhood.
He was arrested and taken to a hospital in West Jerusalem where he was chained to his bed and kept under heavy security despite his critical injury. He was also remanded in custody until Monday.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned “in the strongest terms” the attack.
He added that it was “particularly tragic” that the attack occurred on International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
“On behalf of the United States, I express our deepest condolences to the families of the deceased and wish those injured a full recovery,” he said.
UK Foreign Secretary, James Cleverly, reacting to the attack, tweeted: “Appalling reports of a terror attack in Neve Yaakov this evening.
To attack worshippers at a synagogue on Holocaust Memorial Day, and during Shabbat, is horrific. We stand with our Israeli friends.”
Cleverly did not say anything about the killing of 10 Palestinians earlier by Israeli soldiers.