Thousands of mourners have gathered in Jerusalem for the funeral of eight Israeli seminary students gunned down last night in an attack on the Mercaz Harav yeshiva, which is considered the birthplace of religious Zionism. Police say a Palestinian gunman from East Jerusalem opened fire in the seminary’s library and began shooting students while they were studying. Seven of the students were teenagers ranging in age from fifteen to nineteen. One student was twenty-six years old. Nine other people were wounded in the attack, the deadliest in Jerusalem in over four years. Israeli Foreign Spokesman Aviv Shiron condemned the shooting.

Aviv Shiron: “Once again, we experienced deadly terror in the center of Jerusalem by extremists who were trying to kill as many Jews as possible. This is connected with the attacks of Qassam rockets on Sderot, Grad missiles on Ashkelon, and now a massacre in a school in the center of Jerusalem.”