Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Saturday a vigorous and targeted response to deadly Palestinian attacks on Israeli civilians over the past two days, suggesting that soaring tensions were unlikely to ease soon.
He told an emergency Cabinet meeting the recent killing and wounding of Israeli civilians by Palestinian gunmen would lead to the expedited sealing and demolition of their families’ homes and he would seek to increase the number of licensed armed civilians.
The meeting came 24 hours after a 21-year-old Palestinian from east Jerusalem shot dead seven Israelis emerging from Sabbath evening prayers and hours after a 13-year-old shot a man and his son headed toward the Western Wall in the Old City. Those attacks appeared to have been prompted by an Israeli military raid on the West Bank city of Jenin in which eight Palestinian militants and a civilian were killed. It has been one of the bloodiest months in Israel and the occupied West Bank in years.
