• The gunman was identified as a 21-year-old.
• Police arrested 42 people for interrogation.
• Those detained included inhabitants of the gunman’s neighborhood.

JERUSALEM — Israel police said Saturday that dozens of individuals were arrested after a Palestinian gunman killed seven people outside a synagogue in one of the city’s bloodiest attacks in years.

The gunman was identified as a 21-year-old inhabitant of east Jerusalem, which Israel seized following the 1967 Six-Day War.

There is no evidence that he was previously involved in militant action or was a member of an established Palestinian armed organization.

He was slain by police after a brief chase following the shooting.

In a statement, police stated they had arrested “42 people for interrogation” overnight, “some of them members of the terrorist’s family”.

According to authorities, those detained included inhabitants of the gunman’s neighborhood.

In a separate statement, police said the force had been placed on “highest level” alert following the attack in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Neve Yaakov.

Kobi Shabtai, Israel’s police chief, called the shooting “one of the worst attacks (Israel) has seen in recent years.”

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