The Islamist Hamas movement on Friday claimed responsibility for a gun attack that killed eight Jewish teenagers at a Jerusalem religious school on Thursday night.
”Hamas is responsible for the attack. The Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades will officially claim the attack at the right moment,” a senior Hamas official in Gaza said on condition of anonymity, referring to the group’s armed wing.
Eight students — most of them 15 or 16 years old — were killed when a Palestinian, a resident of occupied east Jerusalem, entered the school and sprayed automatic gunfire before being gunned down by security forces late on Thursday.
An Israeli official said in response that ”if the attack was really carried out by Hamas, it will only strengthen our resolve to fight this organisation and other terror groups”.
Police identified the gunman as Alaa Hisham Abu Dheim (25) of the Jabal al-Mukaber area of east Jerusalem, and said they were investigating several claims of responsibility for the first major attack in Jerusalem in nearly four years.
Immediately after the attack, the Lebanese Hezbollah Shi’ite group said it was carried out to avenge the death of its senior commander, Imad Mughnieh, assassinated in a Damascus bombing on February 12.
Thursday’s attack came after a surge in violence that left more than 130 Palestinians dead in and around the Hamas-run Gaza Strip in eight days. — AFP
