JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israel went on alert on Friday after a Palestinian gunmen killed eight teens at a Jewish religious school in Jerusalem before being gunned down, threatening efforts to mend faltering peace talks.
Israel's main ally, US President George W. Bush, led a global chorus of outrage at what he called a "barbaric and vicious" but the United Nations Security Council failed to agree on a condemnation after an emergency meeting.
"We brought in a large number of forces for the security of residents," city police chief Aharon Franco told military radio, adding that police were on a "general state of alert" throughout the country.
In the usually bustling Arab quarter of Jerusalem's Old City, police were conducting thorough ID checks on several street corners.
Eight students -- most of them 15 or 16 years old -- were shot dead late Thursday at the Merkaz Harav Yeshiva, a seminary in predominantly Jewish west Jerusalem. Another nine were wounded.
A still-unnamed Palestinian from east Jerusalem entered the building and started firing, police said. He was carrying an assault rifle and several clips of ammunition.
The man was shot dead by law enforcement officers, Franco said.
The yeshiva is widely known as the centre of Israeli religious nationalism, where the Gush Emunim (Bloc of the Faith) settler movement was born after the 1967 Six Day War.
"Those who planned, who sent and who carried out the terror attack can say today that they succeeded in striking a harsh blow to the very place from where the occupation sprung," the tabloid Maariv wrote.
Police said they were investigating several claims of responsibility for the first major attack in Jerusalem in nearly four years.
"There are many claims and we are examining them, but we cannot determine at this stage which is the genuine one," Franco said.
Shortly after the massacre, Hezbollah television in Beirut claimed those responsible were members of a previously unknown group called "Phalange of Free Men of Galilee -- Groups of the Martyr Imad Mughnieh and Martyrs of Gaza."
Mughnieh was a top Hezbollah commander assassinated in a Damascus bombing on February 12 who had been wanted in a string of anti-Jewish attacks over the years. The Shiite movement blamed Israel, which denied any involvement, and threatened revenge.
Thursday night's attack came after more than a week of escalated violence in and around the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, where more than 130 Palestinians have been killed in eight days. Three Israeli soldiers and one civilian were also killed in the same period.
It also came as efforts gathered pace in Egypt to broker a truce between Israelis and Palestinians.
Israel slammed the attack as aiming to end the chances for peace in the region and vowed to defend itself.
"The terrorists ... are trying to kill the chances for peace," said foreign ministry spokesman Arye Mekel. "They are trying to kill the chances for peace."
Government spokesman Mark Regev said: "Israel has the right to defend itself and will do so."
In Washington, Bush assured Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that the United States stands with Israel after the "barbaric and vicious attack."
In New York, the Security Council held an emergency session following the strik, but failed to agree on a condemnation because of Libyan opposition.
"Most members wanted to condemn but Libya blocked it," Israeli ambassador to the UN Ambassador Dan Gillerman told reporters after the special session late Thursday.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas also denounced the strike.
"We condemn all attacks against civilians, be they Palestinian or Israeli," his office quoted him as saying in a statement.
The Palestinian Hamas movement hailed the attack as "heroic" as hundreds of people poured into the streets of Gaza to celebrate the shootings.
Hamas spokesman, Taher al-Nunu, blamed the attack on the Israeli government and its deadly military strikes in the impoverished territory.
"We have warned before about the responsibility of the escalation in Gaza and warned of Palestinian anger," Nunu said.
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