Israeli Police Seal Off Home of Jerusalem Synagogue Attacker

Israeli police on Sunday sealed up the Jerusalem home of a Palestinian attacker who killed seven persons and wounded three outside a synagogue, one of several punitive measures approved by Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Cabinet overnight.The move came following a deadly weekend in which seven persons were killed and five others wounded in two separate shootings in Jerusalem, in one of the bloodiest months in the West Bank and Jerusalem in several years.The weekend shootings followed an Israeli raid in the West Bank on Thursday that killed nine Palestinians, most of them terrorists. In response, Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip fired a barrage of rockets into Israel, triggering a series of Israeli airstrikes in response. In all, 32 Palestinians have been killed in fighting this month.Addressing the Cabinet on Sunday morning, Mr. Netanyahu said that “we sealed the home of the terrorist who carried out the horrendous attack in Jerusalem, and his home will be demolished.”“We are not seeking an escalation, but we are prepared for any scenario. Our answer to terrorism is a heavy hand and a strong, swift, and precise response,” he said.The police on Sunday released footage of Israeli army engineers welding metal plates over the windows and welding the front door shut as part of the operation in response to Friday night’s deadly shooting.Police said the attacker, identified as a 21-year-old Jerusalem resident, was killed in a shootout with officers after fleeing the scene in the predominantly Orthodox Jerusalem neighborhood of Neve Yaakov.On Saturday, a 13-year-old Palestinian boy opened fire elsewhere in Jerusalem, wounding two Israeli men, paramedics said. The attacker was shot and hospitalized.Funerals for the victims in Friday’s shooting, the deadliest attack on Israelis since 2008, were scheduled to take place Sunday.The Israeli Cabinet also said it plans a series of other punitive measures, including canceling social security benefits for the families of attackers, and would take steps to “strengthen the settlements” this week as part of the government’s response to the weekend’s attacks.Mr. Netanyahu said that strengthening settlements in the West Bank was aimed at “sending a message to the terrorists that seek to uproot us from our land that we are here to stay.”In the 1967 war, Israel liberated the West Bank, along with parts of Jerusalem occupied by Jordan and the Gaza Strip. It has built dozens of settlements, now home to more than 500,000 Jewish settlers, in the decades since.In Cairo, Secretary of State Blinken opened his Mideast tour on Sunday and was to speak with students at the American University in the city before holding talks with Egyptian officials on Monday. He was then scheduled to travel to Israel for the most critical leg of the visit for talks with Israeli and Palestinian officials.

Israeli Police Seal Off Home of Jerusalem Synagogue Attacker

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