New gun attack in east Jerusalem after synagogue mass shooting

JERUSALEM

A 13-year-old Palestinian boy shot and wounded a father and son in east Jerusalem on Jan. 28 hours after a gunman killed seven outside a synagogue, in one of the deadliest such attacks in years.

The two shootings marked another dramatic escalation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and defied global calls for calm.

Police said the latest gun attack occurred on Saturday morning in Silwan just outside the old, walled city in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.

A father, 47, and his 23-year-old son sustained gunshot wounds to their upper bodies and were rushed to hospital, police and medics said.

Police had earlier announced the arrest of 42 people in connection with Friday's synagogue attack.

The mass shooting was carried out by a 21-year-old Palestinian resident of east Jerusalem who drove up to the synagogue in the Neve Yaakov neighbourhood and opened fire during the Jewish Sabbath, and on International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The attack came with tensions rising across the region a day after one of the deadliest army raids in the occupied West Bank in roughly two decades, as well as rocket fire from fighters in the Gaza Strip and Israeli retaliatory air strikes.

Palestinians held spontaneous rallies to celebrate the killings in Gaza and across the West Bank, including in Ramallah where large crowds swarmed the streets chanting and waving Palestinian flags.

Israel's police chief Kobi Shabtai called the synagogue shooting "one of the worst attacks (Israel) has encountered in recent years."

Several Arab nations that have ties with Israel- including Egypt, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates - condemned Friday night's shooting.

But the Lebanese group Hezbollah, one of Israel's most prominent foes, praised the attack as "heroic", voicing "absolute support for all the steps taken by the Palestinian resistance factions".

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he was "deeply shocked" by the "terrible" Jerusalem attacks and that his country "stands by the side of Israel".

French President Emmanuel Macron said a "spiral of violence must be avoided at all costs".

The gunman at the synagogue was killed by police during a shootout that followed a brief car chase after the attack.

There has been no indication that he had prior involvement in a militant activity or was a member of an established Palestinian armed group.