In the words of the Islamist group Hamas, revenge for the Jenin "massacre" came late on Friday. As Jewish worshipers finished prayers in an East Jerusalem synagogue, an armed Palestinian resident of the eastern part of the holy city opened fire with a pistol, killing at least seven people and wounding ten others. Subsequently, he tried to flee with the car, but just five minutes later he was shot down by the police, who managed to prevent a greater massacre.
This is one of the bloodiest attacks in recent years, which portends a great escalation of tension between Israelis and Palestinians. While Prime Minister Beniamin Netanyahu met urgently with the security cabinet to study the response, the main Palestinian cities celebrated the attack with sweets and fireworks. Israeli emergency services treated the seriously injured on an emergency basis to try to prevent further deaths.
The Israeli army shelled the Gaza Strip early Friday in retaliation for several rockets being fired from the coastal enclave, a day after ten Palestinians were killed in the West Bank by Israeli forces. The deterioration of the situation occurs days before the visit to Jerusalem and Ramallah by the head of US diplomacy, Antony Blinken, scheduled for next Monday and Tuesday.
"In response to rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip, Israel Defense Forces warplanes attacked a military base used by the Hamas terrorist organization," an Israeli army spokesman said. It is estimated that the Palestinian factions fired about ten rockets, which were intercepted by anti-missile batteries or fell on unpopulated territory.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant called on his forces to "be ready in case further action is necessary."
The escalation began Thursday in Jenin, in the West Bank, when Israeli troops stormed into Jenin, the operational epicenter of armed militias, killing nine Palestinians, including an elderly woman. According to the Israeli army, the raid was necessary to stop an imminent attack by Islamic Jihad.
The Palestinian National Authority called the raid a "massacre" and ended security coordination with Israel. The operation in Jenin is "an extension of Israel's deliberate pattern of conduct, which carries out international crimes to advance its annexationist policies," Palestinian foreign diplomacy said.
Following the mass raid, Hamas and the jihad warned that there would be reprisals, although no one claimed responsibility for the rocket fire. The attack in Jerusalem could be the work of a lone wolf.
Jihad spokesman Tariq Salmi said that "resistance is a legitimate right" and that "the message of the Gaza resistance is a clear warning to the enemy." Palestinian medical sources reported that no injuries were reported during Israeli shelling in the strip, but there was extensive damage to property and a general power blackout.
CIA Director Bill Burns is visiting Israel and the West Bank to meet with leaders from both sides in an attempt to defuse tension. So far in 2023, there are already a total of 30 fatalities in the West Bank at the hands of the Israeli army.
