Jerusalem shooting: Israel proposes looser gun laws after attacks

Israel's security cabinet has approved measures to make it easier for Israelis to carry guns after two separate attacks by Palestinians in Jerusalem over the past two days, Report informs via BBC.

The attacks took place after an Israeli army raid in the West Bank killed nine people.

The new measures also include depriving an attacker's family members of residency and social security rights.

The full cabinet is due to consider the measures on Sunday.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had promised a "strong" and "swift" response ahead of the security cabinet meeting.

Israel's army also said it would be reinforcing troop numbers in the West Bank.

"When civilians have guns, they can defend themselves," the far-right National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, told reporters outside a Jerusalem hospital.

The measures will revoke the rights to social security of "the families of terrorists that support terrorism", the security cabinet said.

The announcement came after Israeli police said a 13-year-old Palestinian boy was behind a shooting in Jerusalem's Silwan neighbourhood on Saturday that left an Israeli father and son seriously wounded.

An Israeli police force spokesperson previously said the assailant ambushed five people as they made their way to prayers, leaving two in a "critical condition". The 13-year-old was shot and injured by passers-by and is being held in hospital.

In a separate shooting on Friday at a synagogue in East Jerusalem, seven people were killed and at least three more injured as they gathered for prayers at the start of the Jewish Sabbath. The gunman was shot dead at the scene.

The man behind Friday's synagogue attack was identified by local media as a Palestinian from East Jerusalem.

Police have arrested 42 people in connection with that attack.

Israeli police commissioner Kobi Shabtai called it "one of the worst attacks we have encountered in recent years".

Palestinian militant groups praised the attack, but did not say one of their members was responsible.