Thousands of Israelis gathered in Jerusalem Friday to mourn the deaths of eight students, killed in a shooting spree by a lone Palestinian gunman. The eight victims were shot to death at a Jerusalem rabbinical seminary late Thursday.
Israeli police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld said the gunman entered the library and opened fire with an assault rifle and a pistol during an evening study session.
On Friday, a rabbi recited Hebrew psalms to mourners, who repeated the words in memory of the victims. Nearby balconies were packed with people observing the ceremony, after which the bodies were taken for burial.
Most of the victims are between the ages of 15 and 19; one was 26. One of the slain has been identified as 16-year-old Avraham David Moses, an American citizen whose parents moved to Israel in the 1990s.
Nine others were also wounded in what was the first major attack to hit Jerusalem in four years. It was the deadliest attack in Israel since a suicide bomber killed 11 people in Tel Aviv on April 17, 2006.
One of the wounded has been identified as a Canadian, Nadav Eliyahu Samuels. He is in intensive care at a hospital.
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David Simchon, head of the seminary, said the gunman was killed by a seminary graduate who is an army officer that lives nearby the school.
The seminary serves some 400 high school students and young Israeli soldiers, and many of them carry arms.
Hamas backtracks
Earlier today, Hamas' military wing claimed responsibility for the attack but a senior spokesman, Abu Obeida, now says that claim was premature.
He said that there may be a later announcement, however.
Meanwhile, a clearer picture of the gunman is beginning to take shape.
The family of Alaa Abu Dheim, a 25-year-old from east Jerusalem, said he was responsible for the attack.
His family said he was intensely religious but did not have an affiliation to a militant group.
Iman Abu Dheim said her brother had been disturbed by the recent military campaign by Israel in Gaza, which has left more than 100 Palestinians dead.
"He told me he wasn't able to sleep because of the grief," she said.
Israeli officials have only confirmed that the gunman was from Jabel Mukaber in east Jerusalem.
"What might need to be explained is that residents of east Jerusalem have the proper permits to travel freely within west Jerusalem," CTV's Janis Mackey Frayer said Friday.
"Security officials are saying that's why this attack seemed to come without any warning."
Outside Abu Dheim's house, his family has set up a mourning tent and hung green Hamas flags and a yellow Hezbollah flag.
Several of the gunman's family members have also been taken for questioning, said relatives.
Political response
The massacre came the same day Israel resumed tenuous U.S.-led peace talks with the Palestinians over their contentious territories.
Despite the incident, an Israeli official said Friday that peace talks with the Palestinians would not be suspended.
In Ottawa, Canadian Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier released a statement condemning the attack.
"Canada condemns this terrorist act in the strongest possible terms. It does nothing to advance the Palestinian cause," the release says.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called the killings an "act of terror and depravity" but pressed for peace talks to continue forward.
With files from The Associated Press
