LIVE BLOG: Violence in Jerusalem

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the demolition of the homes of the two Palestinians who allegedly carried out the attack on the Jerusalem synagogue.

After leaving a security cabinet meeting the in the Knesset, the PM reportedly announced that the demolition of their homes would be a first step in heightening security in the city.

British Foreign Minister Philip Hammond has urged all sides in Israel and Palestine to try and calm the situation, amid a spate of attacks culminating in today’s killings at the Jerusalem synagogue.

“Both sides in this conflict need to do everything possible to deescalate the situation and reduce the tension that we’ve seen over the past few weeks in Jerusalem, which is extremely dangerous for both Palestinians and Jewish communities in that area.”

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier condemned the attack, describing it as a “tragedy”.

“The fact that a place of worship has now become the scene of deadly attacks targeting innocent believers is a terrible transgression in an already extremely tense situation.”

“I hope that this is also a loud wake-up call.”

Images have emerged of celebrations in Gaza at the deadly synagogue attack in Jerusalem.

Sweets have been handed out on the street and militants posed with guns and axes, replicating the weapons used in the synagogue attack.

Hamas, who govern Gaza, praised this morning's attack as a response to the death of a Palestinian driver, who was found hanged inside his vehicle late on Sunday in an incident Israeli police described as suicide but which a colleague said looked like murder. 

Israel's finance minister has called for the houses of the synagogue attackers to be demolished today.

“We must take tougher measures, including those we have not taken before,” said Finance Minister Yair Lapid, according to The Times of Israel.

“The houses of these terrorists must be demolished tonight, and the terrorists that set out to commit terror attacks must know that they will not return to them alive. We will spare nothing, we will act with a heavy hand in Jerusalem, we will not allow this to continue.”

At least nine people have been detained by Israeli police since this morning's attack that killed at least four Israelis.

Haaretz journalist, Anshel Pfeffer wrote in a column today:

"Israelis visiting synagogues in Western Europe for the first time are often astonished by the level of security [...] In Israel, however, the scene of a plethora of attacks and suicide bombings over the decades, synagogues have not been protected to the same extent as, say, shopping malls and schools [...]

"Incredible as it may sound, Tuesday morning's terror attack [...] was the first of its kind in living memory on a local synagogue. There was of course the 2008 attack on the Merkaz Harav yeshiva, which technically also served as a synagogue, not far from today's murder scene. In that attack, eight students were murdered.

"In Tuesday morning's attack, one of the terrorists was apparently acquainted with the targeted synagogue as he worked at an adjacent grocery shop. He would have known that at 7 am the synagogue would be crowded, allowing him and his accomplice to quickly move between congregants, hacking away at the worshippers.

"The suicide bombers who attacked Israelis relentlessly during the Second Intifada came from towns and refugee camps in the West Bank, and in many cases had not previously visited the locations they targeted. In light of this, the masterminds behind these attacks instructed the suicide bombers to blow themselves up at easily accessible targets in central locations such as on buses and in restaurants and shops.

"Recent attacks in Jerusalem, including the spate of vehicular attacks and the shooting of Yehuda Glick, have all been perpetrated by residents of Jerusalem's Palestinian neighborhoods. They were all young men with blue Israeli ID cards who worked near their chosen targets and knew the areas well."

Relatives of two suspected Palestinian attackers, shot dead earlier by Israeli police, did "not have any political affiliations" according to a relative of the Palestinian men who spoke to an MEE contributor.

Reports have spread cousins Ghassan Abu Odai and Odai Abu Jamal were members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), although relatives said they were not members of any political group.

The names and nationalities of the four people confirmed killed in the Jerusalem synagogue attack have been released to the BBC.

They are:

Moshe Twersky, 59, dual US-Israel citizen

Arieh Kupinsky, 43, dual US-Israel citizen

Kalman Levi, 55, dueal US-Israel citizen

Avraham Goldberg, 68, dual Israel-UK citizen

Families of the synagogue victims gathered at Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem after Tuesday morning’s attack and spoke to MEE contributor Andrea Di Cenzo.

“At 7.05am (0505 GMT) a 12-year-old boy came knocking on the door of the house and said ‘the Arabs have gone into the synagogue. They came in with guns and axes and they are killing everyone.’,” said Sepora Heller, mother-in-law of Shmulik Goldstein, who was killed in the attack.

The boy, who was in the synagogue, had crawled along the floor to a partially open door as the attack took place and escaped.

Shmulik Goldstein’s father was also in the synagogue and is in hospital suffering from serious injuries to his head and torso. He is in a stable but serious condition.

"We received four severely wounded patients,” said Yoram Weiss, medical director of the Hadassah Medical Centre. “All of them have either gunshot wounds or injuries caused by a machete. All of them have some kind of head injury. Three of them are in the operating room right now."

One of the four patients being treated a police officer who was shot while responding to the incident this morning.

At least nine people have detained in East Jerusalem after Tuesday morning's synagogue attack in a western district of the city.

Dozens of Israeli police stormed the Jabal al-Mukaber district and surrounded the home of suspected attackers Ghassan Abu Odai and Odai Abu Jamal, who were killed after the attack by police.

Several members of the Abu Jamal family have reportedly been detained by police and clashes have erupted in the area between Palestinian youths and Israeli security forces.

Earlier reports that a fifth person, a police officer, has died after the synagogue attack remain unconfirmed.

Witnesses at the scene said they saw a fifth body being removed from the synagogue, although officials maintain there has been no confirmation of the death until now.

A spokesperson for Zaqa, a community of voluntary emergency response teams in Israel, has described the scene inside the synagogue this morning.

“Two terrorists came inside [the synagogue], one with a gun the other with a knife, and shot them. Unfortunately the people inside did not have weapons but tried to fight off the attackers until the police came and shot them [the attackers]," said Mati Goldstein.

“Right now we are taking care of the bodies and prepare them for burial. The next stage we will take care of the remains, we are working together with the police department […] it’s a very hard scene.”