High alert in Jerusalem after two terrorist attacks in less than 24 hours

Jerusalem is in a state of maximum alert this Saturday after being the epicenter of two attacks with a firearm in less than 24 hourswhich until now have left seven Israelis killed and five woundedamid an escalation of violence in the area.

The last attack was registered in the morning in the settlement of Jewish settlers city ​​of davidlocated within the Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan, in occupied East Jerusalem.

“As a result of the shooting there are two injured. The suspect in the shooting was neutralized,” the police said in a statement about the attacker, identified as a 13-year-old Palestinian resident of East Jerusalem.

The assailant “was injured and overpowered” at the scene by armed Israeli civilians, and the police seized on the spot the pistol he used for the attack, labeled “terrorist”.

The victims of this attack were father and son, volunteers of the Israeli emergency service Magen David Adomaccording to the local press.

This attack followed another that occurred on Friday night, when a subject opened fire near a synagogue located in Neve Ya’akova Jewish settler settlement also in Jerusalem is occupied, killing seven people and wounding three more.

It is the deadliest attack since 2011, when an armed group crossed into Israel from Egypt’s Sinai peninsula, killing eight Israelis.

The Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his Minister of National Security, the extremist and anti-Arab settler Itamar Ben Gvir, went to the scene but without making a statement to the press.

“Police Commissioner, Chief Superintendent Yaakov Shabtai, ordered to raise the alert to the highest level. Since this morning, the officers have been working 12-hour shifts,” the police said in a statement, asking the population to “report any suspicious person or object.”

“As part of the investigation into the shooting attack, during the night (Friday) and morning (Saturday), Jerusalem District Police arrested 42 suspectssome of them from the family of the terrorist, relatives and relatives”, added the same source.

Most were arrested at night after Israeli forces patrolled the home of the attacker, an inhabitant of occupied East Jerusalem, to “examine thoroughly the connection between each of the arrested suspects and the terrorist who carried out the attack, as well as the scope of their knowledge and/or participation”, explained the Police.

The attacker drove near the synagogue, opened fire and attempted to drive away. After a chase and shooting, the uniformed men shot him down and seized his weapon.

Although the identity of the assailant in this attack has not yet been revealed, the local press identifies him as a 21-year-old Palestinian, with no prior history of terrorist offences.

Arriving at the scene of the crime, paramedics from the Israeli emergency service Magen David Adom declared five people dead. Five other injured people were taken to hospital but two died while receiving medical attention, including a 70-year-old woman.

“A 15-year-old boy was lying at the entrance to the street, shot in the upper part of the body. We provided medical treatment and transported him to the hospital with his mother. He was immediately taken to the operating room ”, revealed the paramedic Lior Shasha, about the attack last night.

The teenager is hospitalized in serious condition and there are two other people in moderate condition.

Israeli allies around the world condemned the attack in Jerusalem.

“This is absolutely horrible. Our thoughts, prayers, and condolences are with those killed and injured in this heinous act of violence. We strongly condemn this apparent terrorist attack,” he said. Vedant Patel, deputy spokesman for the US State Department.

US Ambassador to Israel Thomas Nides He also denounced the shooting, expressing shock at the “horrible act of violence”, as did the European Union envoy to the Jewish state and the French embassy, ​​among others.

Nevertheless, several Palestinians celebrated the attacks with shouts and applause at the crime scenesand in different cities of the occupied West Bank, such as Ramallah, Nablus, Jenin or several neighborhoods in East Jerusalem.

From Gaza, Palestinian militias from Hamas and Islamic Jihad hailed the attack as a “heroic act” in revenge for the death Thursday of nine Palestinians in heavy gun battles with Israeli troops during a raid on the Jenin refugee camp, a focus of the Palestinian militant movement in the West Bank.

Immediately afterwards, several rockets were launched from Gaza at Israel, which responded with bombardments in the coastal enclave.

The Israeli prison service reported on Saturday that sanctioned dozens of security prisoners with solitary confinement “as punishment for having expressions of joy, such as songs and applause, after last night’s attack”.

With information from EFE

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