Deaths as Jerusalem synagogue attacked

An attack on a synagogue in West Jerusalem has killed at least four Israelis and two Palestinian attackers, police said, prompting Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to vow a "harsh response".

Palestinian group Hamas welcomed the attack on the Har Nof Synagogue and said it was "a natural reaction to Israel's practices" against the Palestinians.

Israeli police spokesman, Micky Rosenfeld, confimed the attack and the death toll in a Twitter post . Police sources had earlier said that five Israelis were killed.

The attackers, who were identified as being from Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem, managed to get inside the synagogue before being shot dead by police.

Rosenfeld said it wasn't immediately clear what weapons the suspects used to attack worshippers.

Dekker said there were conflicting reports on what they were armed with, with some saying the men had knives and axes. Earlier reports said the attackers were armed with guns.

The area has been cordoned off by police, television footage showed.

US Secretary of State John Kerry condemned the attack, saying it was an "act of pure terror and senseless brutality and violence".

More violence expected

The latest violence came after months of tension between Israelis and Palestinians in the city, which is divided between a largely Arab east and a mostly Jewish west.

Late on Sunday, a Palestinian bus driver was found hanged in the vehicle. Israeli police said he killed himself, but many Palestinians believe he was killed by Jewish settlers. 

At least six Israelis have been killed in a spate of attacks over the past few weeks. 

"Everyone expected this to happen. Jerusalem is boiling," Ghazi Hamad, a senior Hamas official,reports.

"Yesterday, the Israeli forces demolished the houses of the Palestinians who attacked Israelis but they never punish Israeli attackers. We are expecting more violence." 

Jerusalem has also seen confrontations, that sometimes turned deadly, around the flashpoint al-Aqsa Mosque in the eastern side of the city.

Palestinians are angry at what they say are repeated attempts by right-wing Jews to enter the Muslim-run compound housing the mosque. The compound is also considered by Jews to be a holy site.

Palestinians also complain that Israeli forces impose restrictions on Muslim worshippers trying to pray there.

Source:

Al Jazeera and agencies