Israeli prime minister also says social security benefits of the families of suspected Palestinian attackers will be cancelled and their homes demolished.
Israel has announced plans to make it easier for Israelis to get firearms amid escalating violence in the occupied Palestinian territory.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the measure late on Saturday after convening a meeting of his security cabinet — filled with hardline politicians — over a pair of shootings that included an attack in occupied East Jerusalem.
Seven people were killed in the shooting outside the East Jerusalem synagogue on Friday.
“We deploy forces, we increase forces, and we do it in different arenas,” Netanyahu said on Saturday.
He promised to expedite gun permits for Israeli citizens and to step up efforts to collect “illegal weapons”.
The homes of the suspected assailants would also be sealed immediately ahead of demolition, he said, “in order to exact an additional price from those who support terrorism”.
His office later said social security benefits for the families of attackers will also be cancelled.
In addition, it promised new steps to “strengthen” illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank but gave no details.
Al Jazeera Diplomatic Editor James Bays said Netanyahu’s plans to approve more gun permits for Israeli citizens come as Israeli police were also encouraging those with existing licenses to carry their guns. “While Netanyahu is urging Israelis not to take the law into their own hands, he’s also putting more weapons into those very same hands,” he said from occupied East Jerusalem.
Bays went on to describe the measures against the Palestinian families as “collective punishment”.
AL JAZEERA
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