Jerusalem, 28 January, 2023 (TPS) — Israel’s security Cabinet convened on Saturday night to assess the situation after two Palestinian terror attacks in Jerusalem killed seven Israelis and wounded six others.
Meanwhile, the Israeli Defense Forces boosted its forces in Judea and Samaria, and Israeli Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai called on Israelis with firearms licenses to carry their guns.
On Friday night, a Palestinian identified as Alqam Khayri, opened fire on people passing by a synagogue in the eastern Jerusalem neighborhood of Neve Yaakov. He drove off towards the nearby Palestinian neighborhood of Beit Hanina but was confronted by responding police officers. Khayri shot at the police officers, who returned fire, killing him.
Seven Israelis were killed and four were injured.
Two of the dead were identified as Eli and Natali Mizrahi, a couple in their forties. According Eli Mizrahi’s father, they were eating their Sabbath dinner when they heard gunshots and ran outside to help.
Three other dead were identified as 14-year-old Asher Natan, 50-year-old Raphael Ben-Eliyahu, and Natalie Ziskind, 46, who was pronounced on arrival at the Hadassah Medical Center-Mount Scopus. The names of the other fatalities have not yet been released.
The hospital announced on Saturday night that a 15 year-old boy and a 20-year-old male were in moderate but stable condition after being operated on. The hospital said both were conscious. In addition, a 60-year-old woman was in moderate condition while a 24-year-old man was on a ventilator in serious but stable condition.
On Saturday, a 13-year-old Palestinian boy with a handgun shot two Israelis outside Jerusalem’s Old City. The victims were identified as a father and son. The son, an off-duty soldier, fired back, injuring his attacker. Both were evacuated to Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center where both were listed in serious but stable condition.
Security footage posted online showed the boy waiting between a wall and some parked cars before he opened fire on a group of passersby.
The boy was identified as Muhammad Aliyat, who lived in the adjacent Silwan neighborhood.
Palestinians in Jenin and Gaza celebrated the news of the attacks with fireworks.
“My heart breaks in the face of the terrible attacks that took place during Shabbat in Jerusalem.” Herzog said. “The attacks remind us again of a simple and painful truth: whatever the differences are within us, in the face of our enemies, who seek our harm and rise to kill us – we must maintain our unity,” he added.