Gunman Kills At Least 7 Near Jerusalem Synagogue

Facts

• Israel's foreign ministry announced Friday that a Palestinian gunman opened fire outside an east Jerusalem synagogue, killing at least seven people and injuring 10 before being shot and killed by police.¹
• The attack came amid a burst of violence, which included a rocket barrage from Gaza and retaliatory Israeli airstrikes following an Israeli military raid on Thursday that killed nine people in the West Bank city of Jenin.²
• Israel’s ambulance service confirmed five deaths at the scene and have since said three more have died in hospital, with at least nine more victims understood to be in critical condition.³
• The attack reportedly occurred around 8:15 p.m. local time on Friday, near a synagogue on Neve Yaakov Street as worshippers were observing the Jewish Sabbath.⁴
• The gunman was identified as Alqam Khayri, a 21-year-old resident of East Jerusalem who, police said in a statement, appeared to have acted alone.⁵
• There has been no immediate claim of responsibility for the shooting, although a spokesperson for Hamas, the armed Palestinian movement that controls the Gaza Strip, said that the attack was connected to Thursday's raid in Jenin.³

Sources: ¹Nbcchicago, ²Associated Press, ³Guardian, ⁴BBC News and ⁵Timesofisrael.

Narratives

• Pro-Israel, as provided by Timesofisrael. This heinous attack on Israeli civilians is an unacceptable act of terrorism and one of the deadliest in years. While no group has yet claimed responsibility, it's a clear retaliation to Thursday's operation, which killed mostly gunmen and members of the cell and was needed to foil planned terror attacks against Israeli civilians.
• Pro-Palestine, as provided by Middleeasteye. Israeli occupation forces carried out a planned massacre against the Palestinian people this Thursday, cutting off electricity and barring medical workers from evacuating the wounded from the refugee camp, and now have attacked Gaza. Emboldened by international silence after killing more Palestinians last year than in any other calendar year since the Second Intifada, it is Israel that's becoming even more violent.