Jerusalem: The library of the rabbinical seminary was crowded for a nighttime study session when the Palestinian gunman opened fire. Students scrambled to flee the attack, jumping out of windows. Holy books drenched in blood littered the floor.
The attacker killed eight students and wounded nine before he was shot dead Thursday night. It was the first major attack in Jerusalem in four years.
Afterward, the Jewish seminarians gathered outside the library and screamed for revenge, shouting, ‘Death to Arabs,’ while in Hamas-controlled Gaza thousands of jubilant Palestinians took to the streets to celebrate.
Funeral processions for the dead students - one of them 26 years old and the rest teenagers between ages 15 and 19 - were to depart from the seminary Friday morning.
Israeli defense officials said the attacker came from east Jerusalem, where the city's Palestinians live. They have Israeli ID cards that give them freedom of movement in Israel, unlike Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.
Police would not provide more details Friday, but several residents of the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber gave his name as Alaa Abu Dhein, 20, and said he had worked as a driver at the seminary. His family set up a mourning tent Friday and hung green Hamas flags outside their home.
Abu Dhein was arrested by Israeli authorities four months ago and then released two months later, they said. The residents would not give their names because the family had not authorized them to release the information.
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Mahmoud Abbas, the moderate Palestinian president with whom Israel is negotiating a peace agreement, condemned the attack. But by Friday morning there were some Israeli lawmakers calling on the government to break off talks.
''The government must immediately halt all negotiations and eradicate terrorism in every way possible,'' said David Rotem of the hardline Yisrael Beiteinu party. ''Later, when we have someone to talk with, we can hold negotiations,'' he told Israel Radio.
Others rejected that call. ''It's the job of a responsible leadership, a logical leadership, to say in moments like these, looking at the blood, at the cries for revenge ... that we, at least we in Israel, will do everything we can in order not to be dragged into this cycle,'' dovish lawmaker Yossi Beilin told Israel Radio.
Hamas militants, who have been battling Israel during a weeklong surge in violence in Gaza, praised the attack in a statement but stopped just short of claiming responsibility. ''We bless the operation. It will not be the last,'' Hamas said in a statement sent to reporters by text message.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the attacker walked through the seminary's main gate and entered the library, where witnesses said some 80 students were gathered. He carried an assault rifle and pistol, and used both weapons in the attack. Rosenfeld said at least six empty bullet clips were found on the floor. Rescue workers said nine people were wounded, three seriously.
Police later found the vehicle apparently used by the attacker, Rosenfeld said.
David Simchon, head of the seminary, said the students were preparing a celebration for the new month on the Jewish calendar, which includes the holiday of Purim. ''We were planning to have a Purim party here tonight and instead we had a massacre,'' he told Channel 2 TV.
The gunman was finally killed by a seminary graduate who is an army officer and lives nearby, Simchon said Friday. The officer rushed into the seminary with his weapon and killed the gunman, he told Israel Radio: ''He saw the terrorist shooting, and with amazing resourcefulness he went into one of the rooms and managed to kill him.''
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