Israeli police said two Palestinian suspects stormed into a Jerusalem synagogue with guns, knifes and axes and attacked worshippers. At least eight people were injured and officers shot and killed the assailants. BuzzFeed News’ Sheera Frenkel is on the scene in Jerusalem.
Israeli emergency services carry the body of a Palestinian assailant who was shot dead while attacking the synagogue on Nov. 18.
AFP / Getty Images Gali Tibbon
JERUSALEM — Two Palestinian men armed with knives, axes and guns stormed a synagogue in Jerusalem during morning prayers on Tuesday, killing four worshippers and injuring at least eight in the deadliest attack on the city in years.
All four victims were rabbis. Arieh Kupinsky, Kalman Levi and Moshe Twersky have joint U.S.-Israeli citizenship, authorities said. Twersky is a native of Boston, Massachusetts.
The fourth victim, Avraham Goldberg, had joint United Kingdom-Israeli citizenship, police said.
The police spokesman said that Ghassan and Oday Abu Jamal, cousins from East Jerusalem, had been identified as the men behind the attack. They were killed in a shootout with officers, police spokeswoman Luba Samri told the Associated Press.
The synagogue assault, which police described as a "terrorist attack," took place in the Har Nof neighborhood and comes amid a wave of violence in Jerusalem that some have called a third intifada, or Palestinian uprising.
The BBC reported that the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, the military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, have claimed responsibility for the attack.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to "respond with a heavy hand to the brutal murder of Jews who came to pray and were met by reprehensible murderers," according to a statement.
Netanyahu blamed Hamas and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas for "incitement" of the attack and said the international community was "irresponsibly ignoring" the situation.
Israeli foreign media police chief Micky Rosenfeld said that the attack happened at 7:01 a.m. He said that they "took advantage of the fact that they had work permits and could freely go around Jerusalem."
"We are looking to see if they were affiliated with Islamic Jihad or Hamas, those two terror groups. Most of the previous attacks have been committed by lone terrorists," he added.
Video purportedly showing police officers in a shootout with the attackers outside the synagogue.
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