Tel Aviv, 28 January 2023 (dpa/MIA) – Seven people were shot dead in an attack on a synagogue in an Israeli settlement in East Jerusalem on Friday, according to police.

Three others were injured when shots were fired at people leaving the synagogue, police said on Twitter.

The attacker – identified as a 21-year-old resident of East Jerusalem – went to a synagogue in the Israeli settlement of Neve Yaakov at around 8:30 pm (1830 GMT) and opened fire, according to police.

The officers had shot at the assailant at the scene and “neutralized” him. Police later confirmed that he had been killed.

Security forces searched the area to make sure there were no other possible attackers, authorities said.

A spokesman for Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, said the attack was “in retaliation for the Israeli army’s raid on the Jenin refugee camp on Thursday.”

Nine Palestinians were killed and 20 others injured in clashes with Israeli soldiers in Jenin in the West Bank on Thursday.

Israel had said the operation was carried out in order to arrest members of the militant Islamic Jihad group.

Some Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and West Bank reacted with celebrations to news of the attack on Friday evening.

In Gaza, eyewitnesses reported militants firing into the air and people pouring into the streets.

The US State Department condemned “this apparent terrorist attack in the strongest terms.”

“Our commitment to Israel’s security remains ironclad and we are in direct touch with our Israeli partners,” said spokesperson Vedant Patel.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the US was “shocked and saddened by the loss of life.”

German ambassador to Israel, Steffen Seibert, described it as “an evil terrorist act against Jews on Holocaust Remembrance Day.”

UN Secretary General António Guterres condemned the attack and offered his condolences to the families of the victims.

“It is particularly abhorrent that the attack occurred at a place of worship, and on the very day we commemorated International Holocaust Remembrance Day,” he said in a statement issued by his spokesperson.

“There is never any excuse for acts of terrorism. They must be clearly condemned and rejected by all.”

The statement said Guterres was “deeply worried about the current escalation of violence” in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory.

“This is the moment to exercise utmost restraint.”

The situation between Israelis and Palestinians has been very tense since a series of attacks last year.

Israel’s army has been conducting more raids in the occupied Palestinian territories, which have repeatedly led to deadly confrontations.

The deaths in Jenin prompted the Palestinian Authority to say on Thursday it was cancelling its cooperation on security issues with Israel – although it has made similar announcements in the past but not implemented them.

This year, 21 Palestinians have been killed in connection with military operations or their own attacks, including five youths. Last year, 172 Palestinians were killed, the highest number since 2006.

Israel took control of the West Bank and East Jerusalem during the Six-Day War in 1967. Today, more than 600,000 Israeli settlers live on the occupied territory.

The Palestinians claim the territories for an independent state of Palestine with Arab East Jerusalem as its capital.