Four Killed, a Dozen Wounded in West Jerusalem Synagogue Attack
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JACK GUEZ/AFP/Getty Images(JERUSALEM) — At least four people were killed and a dozen others wounded inside a synagogue complex in West Jerusalem Tuesday by two men carrying guns, knives and axes.
Three American citizens were among the victims in the attack, an Israeli police spokesman said.
Israeli police responding to the assault in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhood shot both attackers dead.
Although Hamas did not claim direct responsibility for the attack, the militant group said it was likely the result of last month’s closing of East Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque as well as the mysterious circumstances surrounding Monday’s hanging death of a Palestinian bus driver.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu put the blame on Hamas and President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, claiming they incited the attackers with fiery rhetoric. Netanyahu vowed, “We will respond decisively to the horrific murder of Jews who came to pray and were killed by despicable murderers.”
In recent weeks, there have been several assaults targeting Israeli civilians in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Tel Aviv, leaving at least three dead.
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