Tunis, 29 January 2023 (dpa/MIA) – Concerns over increasing escalation between Israel and Palestine are mounting after a second attack in East Jerusalem in two days, followed by two attempted attacks in the West Bank.

Israel’s security cabinet on Saturday agreed on new counterterrorism measures in response to the incidents.

Among other things, it will become easier for Israeli citizens to obtain licences for firearms, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s office announced early on Sunday.

Initially, there were no further details available on the measure.

Netanyahu‘s security cabinet met on Saturday evening after two people were wounded when a 13-year-old gunman opened fire in East Jerusalem, a day after a deadly attack on a synagogue in the city.

Police said the young attacker was an East Jerusalem resident and was suspected of having a terrorist motive. Armed passers-by shot and wounded him.

Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency service said two men were seriously injured and taken to hospital. According to police, they are a father and son. The attacker was also receiving medical treatment.

The attack came hours after an attack in the Israeli settlement of Neve Yaakov in East Jerusalem on Friday, which marked International Holocaust Remembrance Day, when a Palestinian shot dead seven people outside a synagogue. The man was killed by authorities while fleeing, police said.

Israeli police took 42 people – relatives and neighbours of the deceased 21-year-old attacker – into custody for questioning on Saturday following the attack.

At the Saturday meeting, Netanyahu‘s security cabinet also decided to withdraw social security and health benefits from attackers’ relatives if they support terrorism. It was initially unclear whether and how it would be determined whether someone is a supporter of terrorism.

Furthermore, it was decided that the army and the police should selectively collect illegal weapons. Further steps, such as the “strengthening of settlements,” would be published at a later date.

In a further attempted attack on Saturday evening, a Palestinian man fired a shot in a restaurant in the city of Jericho in the West Bank, according to the Israeli army.

No one was hurt but police are searching for the man who then ran away, the army said. Media reported he had problems with his gun, which may have prevented further shooting.

Also on Saturday evening, another attack on an Israeli settlement in the West Bank was foiled when security guards discovered a “terrorist” near Kedumim, to the west of the city of Nablus, and “neutralized” him, the army said.

It was initially unclear whether the suspected attacker was killed.

The situation between Israelis and Palestinians has been increasingly tense since a series of attacks last year.

On Thursday, 9 Palestinians were killed and 20 others injured in a raid by Israeli soldiers in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank.

Israel had said the operation was carried out in order to arrest members of the militant Islamic Jihad group.

It was one of the deadliest military operations in years in the Palestinian autonomous area. Shortly afterwards, rockets flew above Gaza and Israel launched air strikes.

EU foreign affairs envoy Josep Borrell expressed concern about the raid. The EU fully recognized Israel’s legitimate security interests, said the EU’s chief diplomat, but stressed that force must only be used as a last resort. He called on both sides to de-escalate the conflict.

Meanwhile Friday’s deadly attack was condemned by countries including the US and France, as well as Jordan, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.

Notably, Saudi Arabia also issued a statement condemning Friday’s attack, marking a change from its usual policy towards Israel.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expresses the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s warning that the situation between Palestinians and Israelis will slide into further serious escalation,” the Saudi ministry tweeted on Saturday, adding: “The Kingdom condemns all targeting of civilians.”

The influential Gulf state, which has no diplomatic ties with Israel, has, in the past, often commented on attacks on Palestinians, but not on those targeting Israelis.

Israel conquered the West Bank and East Jerusalem in 1967. Today, more than 600,000 Israeli settlers live there. The Palestinians claim the territories for an independent state of Palestine with the Arab East Jerusalem as its capital.

More and more young Palestinians are joining the uprising and are ready to fight and even die for the cause, said Michael Kobi of the Israeli Institute for National Security Studies recently. Kobi called this an alarming development.

Israel’s premier Netanyahu said after the attack near the synagogue: “We will act decisively and calmly.” He called on people not to take the law into their own hands.

The far-right Police Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, on the other hand, called for citizens to be “better armed to avoid such attacks.” Ben-Gvir is seen as highly controversial, having already been convicted of racist incitement and supporting a Jewish terrorist organization.