“It is particularly abhorrent that the attack occurred at a place of worship, and on the very day we commemorated International Holocaust Remembrance Day”, the statement said. 

“There is never any excuse for acts of terrorism.  They must be clearly condemned and rejected by all.”

Friday’s incident followed on from a worrying escalation in violence in recent months, and the deaths of nine Palestinians, militants and well as several civilians, at a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank town of Jenin on Thursday, following an Israeli raid targeting what they said was an active group of Islamic Jihad militants.

Palestinian militants in Gaza launched rockets into Israel in response, which Israeli forces met with air strikes on the Palestinian enclave.