Israel's figurehead president, Isaac Herzog, called on other countries to follow suit as he landed in Britain on Sunday for an official visit. On Friday, Britain said it also intends to ban Hamas as a terrorist group and would no longer differentiate between its political and military wings.
and European Union, consider Hamas a terrorist group. Since the May war, Israel and Hamas have conducted indirect talks through Egyptian mediators aimed at cementing a long-term cease-fire.
Israel, along with Egypt, have together maintained a stifling blockade on Gaza since the Hamas takeover, causing great harm to the territory's already weak economy. Hamas has fought four wars against Israel since it took control of Gaza from the rival Fatah group in 2007. "Our people's resistance will continue to be legitimate by all means and tools against the Zionist occupier until our desired goals are achieved and the occupation is expelled from our holy sites and all of our lands," spokesman Abdel Latif al-Qanou said. However, the group stopped short of claiming responsibility for the attack. In Gaza, Hamas praised the attack as a "heroic operation" and said Abu Shkhaidem was one of its members. Palestinian media identified him as Fadi Abu Shkhaidem, a teacher at a nearby high school. Police identified the attacker as a 42-year-old Palestinian from east Jerusalem. One of the four people wounded was in serious condition. Kay had recently worked at the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray. Israeli officials said Eliyahu Kay, a 26-year-old immigrant from South Africa, was killed in the shooting. Violence surrounding the site, which is considered holy by both faiths, has triggered previous rounds of fighting, including the war last May. Police said the attack took place near an entrance to a contested flashpoint shrine known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary. Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, has largely adhered to a cease-fire with Israel since an 11-day war last May and shootings attacks inside the Old City are rare. It was not immediately clear whether Hamas, an Islamic militant group sworn to Israel's destruction, had ordered the attack or whether one of its members had acted alone. JERUSALEM - A Hamas militant on Sunday opened fire in Jerusalem's Old City, killing one Israeli and wounding four others before he was fatally shot by Israeli police.
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