LONDON
U.S and U.K. Foreign Secretaries John Kerry and Philip Hammond have condemned an attack on a synagogue in Jerusalem by two Palestinian men which has left at least four Israelis dead and eight injured.
The pair, armed with a pistol, knife and axe, attacked the West Jerusalem synagogue earlier on Tuesday.
Speaking in London, Kerry said: "People who had come to worship God in the sanctuary of a synagogue were hatcheted and hacked and murdered in that holy place in an act of pure terror and senseless brutality and murder.
"I call on the Palestinian leadership at every single level to condemn this in the most powerful terms."
Tensions have been high since Israel’s "Operation Protective Edge" attack on Gaza in the summer which left more than 2,000 Palestinians dead and more than 10,000 injured.
Israel has also restricted access to the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.
- 'Reduce tension'
Speaking alongside Kerry, Hammond said: "Both sides in this conflict need to do everything possible to de-escalate the situation and reduce the tension that we’ve seen over the past few weeks in Jerusalem, which is extremely dangerous for both Palestinian and Jewish communities in that area."
For Muslims, Al-Aqsa represents the world's third holiest site while Jews refer to the area as the Temple Mount, claiming it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem during the 1967 Middle East War and annexed the holy city in 1980, claiming it as the capital of the self-proclaimed Jewish state – a move never recognized by the international community.
In September 2000, a visit to Al-Aqsa by controversial Israeli politician Ariel Sharon triggered what later became known as the Second Intifada, a popular uprising against Israel's decades-long occupation in which tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed.
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