UPDATE 14 (13:30 PST): Carl - whose nephew-in-law attends the school - are both suggesting that the attack may have been on the section of the yeshiva that's the high school. A 16 year old boy is one of the victims in serious conditions, but these pictures make seem to imply it was the main seminary's dining hall (or do they share a dining hall, and it's just a matter of what students were in there?). Here's a picture of the aftermath of the carnage caused by the terrorist's estimated 500-600 bullets - the victims are young but, to our eyes, not high school age:

Not that deliberate massacres of schoolchildren of all ages are beyond these genocidal fanatics.

UPDATE 13 (13:20 PST): Looks like it's going to be seven dead plus one terrorist. Another may or may not be holed up, and of course several students are seriously wounded and have been evacuated.

UPDATE 12 (13:15 PST): BBC report on the attack.

Two terrorists, one dead. Israeli sources only confirming six Israeli dead so presumably the figures of seven and eight dead include the terrorists depending on which report is being passed on at the time. But with dozens injured - and three confirmed seriously wounded - the casualty figures will increase. Incidentally, how many Palestinian civilians were injured - total - during Israel's defensive actions in Gaza? You know, the ones that required three or four separate UN meetings by various branches and subbranches?

UPDATE 11 (13:05 PST): From Israellycool's running updates:

10:37PM: I just saw on Channel 2 that the terrorist held a blue identity card. In other words, he was an Israeli (Arab) citizen. Which could lend credence to the Hezbollah TV claim above (10:25PM update).
10:45PM: The terrorist was a resident of East Jerusalem.

The identity card helps explain how there could have been such a massive intelligence failure - the less time the terrorist has to travel from the time he leaves his house to the time that he murders his victims is the less time to intercept him. Dozens of terrorist attacks are stopped while the bomber is already en route to the attack. But there's not much time to do that if all he has to do is cross the street.

As for the claims that it lends credence to Hezbollah - they've been trying to recruit Israeli Arabs for years so it certainly fits. But this doesn't have a Hezbollah feel. When they retaliate for Mugniyah it's going to be against a high-ranking politician, a large international Jewish target, or a hardened military target. It's not going to be a dining hall filled with kids. Hezbollah is just as thoroughly genocidal and evil as the dozens of Palestinian terrorist groups who want to wipe out all the Jews in Israel - the differences between the two lie in the objective military capability of the former versus the seething impotent lashing out so characteristic of the latter. If a religious school was the hardest target Hezbollah could hit then they'd certainly do it - but it's unfortunately not.

UPDATE 10 (13:00 PST): Go read Elder on the mass celebrations being held in Gaza.

UPDATE 09 (12:55 PST): Not Hamas. Also, it was one terrorist and another (or maybe two) are on the run. Also, of course:

In Gaza City, residents went out into the streets and fired rifles in celebration in the air after hearing news of the attack on the yeshiva.

UPDATE 08 (12:45 PST): As per the last update, we're not sure about how credible Fatah's claim of responsibility is - although "other Palestinian sources" would be saying "that the claim of responsibility was not credible" no matter what. Fatah's been given billions in aid to crack down on all terrorists, and its their own terrorist wing claiming responsibility. The umbrella PRC is in full celebratory jihad mode, but at the very least Hamas doesn't look like they'll be claiming responsibility. And if it's not Hamas...

Abu Abir, a spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committees told Ynet that the terrorist attack at the Jewish seminary in Jerusalem in which six people were killed was a blessed act. "The only way that Israelis will have security is if they get up and leave Palestine. All Palestinians will chase after every last one; we won't leave them space to bury their dead. This is the first of many acts that the Palestinian resistance promised and started to carry out." Fawzi Barhum, a Hamas spokesman, said that "following the IDF action in northern Gaza, it is only natural that the Palestinians react to the massacre that the Israeli army carried out."

UPDATE 07 (12:35 PST): There was a point late last year when Fatah was being pressed to prove that they were actually doing something with the billions in aid they were getting. So they called up a Reuters stringer and put out propaganda to the effect that they had completely dismantled their terrorist wing, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. Can we have the money and weapons back now:

A Palestinian source told Ynet that the Imad Mugniyah cells of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, Fatah's military wing, carried out the terror attack in Jerusalem that left eight dead along with another Palestinian organization whose named he refused to make public. According to the source, the attack was carried out as a response to "the Israeli crimes in the (Gaza) Strip and the killing of (Hizbullah arch terrorist Imad) Mugniyah." However, other Palestinian sources said that the claim of responsibility was not credible. (Ali Waked)

It's nice how they're supplying reporters with a ready-made "cycle of violence" friendly quote that can in absolutely no way be true. And if it is true, does that mean that Fatah is allied with Hamas? Because that would be a nice thing to have out in the open.

UPDATE 06 (12:22 PST): An Israeli police spokesman: "They opened fire on innocent youngsters studying." Which is a point worth noting. The Palestinians routinely use schools for military purposes - but if Israel ever targeted them inside of one the hysteria from human rights organizations would be deafening. But terrorist attacks on students studying in a religious school? That's just a cycle of violence.

UPDATE 05 (12:20 PST): CNN says eight dead, although that might include the dead terrorist. They're still searching for a second one who may be in the building. They also breathlessly print that "the attack comes in the wake of a large-scale Israeli offensive in Gaza that began last week and killed more than 100 people." Which, if you'll check the very thing we wrote when this story broke, was predictable. And disgusting.

UPDATE 04 (12:15 PST): Hey, anyone think that the UN Human Rights Council will condemn today's attack on Israeli civilians like they did Israel's military operation in the Gaza Strip? The dining hall that the terrorists burst into was filled with more than eighty civilians, which is higher than even the Palestinians' civilian casualty figures from Gaza. So that condemnation should be coming soon, right?

UPDATE 03 (12:10 PST): Last week Israel retaliated to literally years of rocket and missile fire from the Gaza Strip by attacking Hamas. This caused Fatah - in the West Bank, receiving literally billions in assistance ostensibly to oppose Hamas - to suspend peace negotiations with Israel. Rice had to fly into Israel just to fix things. Now Israeli civilians have been attacked by terrorists almost certainly coming from Fatah's West Bank areas - but we doubt that Israelis will be allowed to take that into account and suspend talks with the people who are trying to kill them.

UPDATE 02 (12:05 PST): JPost says 3 seriously injured, 3 moderately in addition to those killed. Two of the terrorists are dead and a third may have escaped. Three armed terrorists implies a pretty substantial operation - and a huge intelligence failure:

The gunmen entered a dining hall where about 80 people were gathered, witnesses said, and opened fire. "There are at least seven killed and 10 people wounded," said Eli Dein, director of Israel's rescue service.

UPDATE 01 (11:55 PST): Israellycool is also blogging updates and actually had this picture up before the attack. Reports of Gazans celebrating in the streets right now mean that there'll be a dozen more like it in the morning:

ORIGINAL: Some reports say the shooting is still going on:

At least sever people were killed Thursday evening when terrorists infiltrated the Merkaz Harav yeshiva in the Kiryat Moshe neighborhood in Jerusalem and opened fire, a senior police official said. At least two terrorists infiltrated the yeshiva, possibly armed with explosive belts, and began firing in every direction. Some reports suggested the terrorists were shot and killed, while other reports from the scene said the incident was ongoing and shots were still being fired. A large number of police and emergency medical personnel had either arrived or were en route to the scene, with some 20-30 ambulances summoned.

The dominant meme for the next few newscycles is going to be that this was "retaliation" for the Israeli attacks in Gaza. Which might be true, minus (a) that successful terrorist attacks usually take months to plan and (b) that terrorist infiltrations from the West Bank have been ongoing for months - despite billions in security assistance coming into Fatah, ostensibly to stop exactly that. They've been stopped by Israeli intelligence, but this one got through.

And yet the de facto anti-Israel "cycle of violence" frame - oh so irresistible.

References:
* At least seven killed in terrorist attack at Jerusalem yeshiva [Ha'aretz]

Previously:
* MR Begs the Main Stream Media: Please Go Back to Lying to Us
* Israel Not Amused By Attempts To Turn Gaza Into Lebanon
* Terrorist Wing That Had Been "Totally Dismantled" By Fatah Launches Attack, Murders Israelis