A day after another attack that left seven people dead in East Jerusalem, Israeli security services are on high alert after shooting at a settlement near Al-Aqsa Mosque in the south.
According to Israeli police, two Israeli settlers were injured in a shooting on Saturday at a settlement in the Silwan neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem.
On the southern side of Al-Aqsa Mosque, in the Silwan neighborhood, which is populated primarily by Palestinians, is the City of David settlement. According to security sources, the suspect was shot but not killed and is a 13-year-old local. The shooter’s identity is still a secret, according to authorities.
A 22-year-old Israeli soldier who was not on duty and his 47-year-old father were also injured, the Israeli newspaper reported. Each of them has been taken to the hospital.
After the shooting, which was the second in two days after a fatal shooting on Friday outside a structure used as a synagogue in the settlement of Neve Yaakov in East Jerusalem killed seven people, Israeli security services raised the security level to the highest alert.
The shooter on Friday was a Palestinian, who was killed by Israeli security forces, and 42 members of his family were taken into custody.
According to a senior Israeli official quoted by Israeli journalist Barak Ravid later on Saturday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will present a number of countermeasures to the cabinet this evening for approval.
Ravid listed several of the suggested actions, including a law to deport families of Palestinians involved in killings and sealing of their homes, arresting their family members, and hastening the issuance of gun permits to Israeli citizens.
The Shooter – A Palestinian
A day earlier, Israeli forces shot and killed ten Palestinians in the West Bank, nine of whom were killed during a large-scale raid in the Jenin refugee camp.
This month, Israeli forces have killed 30 people, a sign that the violence against Palestinians is getting worse.
Since the Second Intifada, Israeli forces killed more Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem in one year than in any other calendar year.
In 2022, Israeli attacks on the occupied territories claimed the lives of at least 220 people, including 48 children. 53 people died in the Gaza Strip, while 167 people died in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Israeli police and medical personnel claim that a shooting on Friday in occupied East Jerusalem resulted in at least seven fatalities and three other injuries.
The shooter, who was identified by the police as a 21-year-old Palestinian East Jerusalem resident, was also killed by gunfire.
According to Israeli police, he arrived in a car around 8:15 p.m. local time outside a synagogue-style building in the Neve Yaakov settlement. After that, he fired at people in the area and then fled the scene on foot, where he ran into police. He was shot and killed by police officers.
The Times of Israel reports that Jerusalem District Police Commander Doron Turgeman told reporters at the scene that the shooter was acting alone.