Death toll in Jerusalem synagogue attack rises to seven

A policeman has become the fifth victim in Tuesday’s attack on a Jerusalem synagogue. He had been the first to respond to the incident and later died of his wounds in hospital.

It is the deadliest such attack in six years in the Holy city. The victims were either shot or cut down by two Palestinians wielding a meat cleaver and a gun.

The two attackers have been named as Ghassan and Udai Jamal – cousins from the Jerusalem district of Jabal Mukaber.
They were themselves shot dead by police.

The synagogue lies in an ultra-orthodox neighbourhood of West Jerusalem. About 25 people had been praying when the shooting broke out.

Four of the dead were rabbis – Three held dual US-Israeli citizenship and a fourth man was a British -Israeli national.

Immediately afterwards Israeli security officials and police headed for the area of the city where they had lived and made ten arrests including several family members.

Violence in region has surged in the past month, fuelled in part by a dispute over Jerusalem’s holiest shrine.

Several Israelis have been deliberately run over or stabbed to death by Palestinians.