JERUSALEM — Eight yeshiva students died late Thursday night in a hail of bullets when a lone Palestinian terrorist entered the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva in the Kiryat Moshe neighborhood of Jerusalem.

 The gunman opened fire using an estimated 500 bullets in a shooting spree lasting several minutes.  Seven students between the ages of 15 to 19, and one student of 26 were the victims of the terrorists who later police established came from east Jerusalem. Eleven other students were injured, some seriously and taken to nearby hospitals.  The terrorist was subsequently shot dead by an off duty IDF officer who lived near the yeshiva and heard the firing and went to investigate.    

The Mercaz Harav Yeshiva is regarded as the flagship of the religious Zionist movement and has about 1,000 students.  The yeshiva was headed for many years by Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Hacohen Kook, the son of the rabbinic scholar and former Chief Rabbi, Avraham Hacohen Kook.  The incident was the first major attack by Palestinian terrorists in Jerusalem since February 2004 when eight people died as a result of a suicide bombing.

 The pictures show some of the injured students being removed to hospital following the Mercaz Harav massacre. [Isranet photos]