Palestinian attackers storm Jerusalem synagogue, killing 3 Americans, 1 Briton JERUSALEM - Two Palestinians armed with knives, axes and a gun stormed a synagogue in an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood on Tuesday, killing three Americans - including a prominent rabbi - and a British worshiper in one of the deadliest attacks in years in Jerusalem. The attackers - identified by Palestinian media as residents of mostly Arab East Jerusalem - were then killed by police in an aftermath that vividly showed the razor-edge tensions in Jerusalem after weeks of bloodshed and clashes. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Palestinian leaders of inciting violence and promised to "respond harshly." In the Palestinian-controlled Gaza Strip, calls over loudspeakers praised the attackers. In East Jerusalem, crowds hurled stones at Israeli police fanning out around the neighborhood where the attackers lived. Hours later, Netanyahu ordered the destruction of East Jerusalem homes of Palestinians who have carried out "terrorist" attacks over the past weeks - a tactic Israel sees as a deterrent to anti-Israel violence, but which also provokes Palestinian outrage. The Associated Press, citing Israeli police, said those killed included one Briton and three Americans - among them Rabbi Moshe Twersky, who taught at an English-speaking religious school in Jerusalem and was a member of one of the most respected families in Orthodox scholarship. Two Palestinian men allegedly killed four people with axes and knives inside a synagogue in Jerusalem early Tuesday, before police shot them dead. The attack happened in an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of West Jerusalem. The State Department identified the other Americans killed as Aryeh Kupinsky and Cary William Levine, but gave no other immediate details, the AP reported. Israeli authorities identified the British man as Avraham Goldberg. Some media reports, including the Jerusalem Post, identified all the men as rabbis. The AP reported that all four also had Israel citizenship. The synagogue is located in a neighborhood, Har Nof, popular with Americans undertaking studies in Judaism. But Palestinians refer to the area by its former name, Deir Yassin, an Arab village that was attacked by Jewish paramilitary units in April 1948 shortly before Israeli statehood. Scores of Palestinians were among those killed. "Today's vicious terrorist attack . . . represents a barbaric new low in the sad and outrageous history of such attacks,"" said a statement from the U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Daniel Shapiro. Twersky's grandfather, Joseph Soloveitchik, was a renowned Boston rabbi, and his father, Rabbi Yitzhak (Isadore) Twersky, was longtime director of The Center for Jewish Studies at Harvard. Twersky's brother, Mayer Twersky, one of the heads of Yeshiva University in New York, the flagship American school for Jewish Orthodox studies. The early morning attack harkened back to the years of the Palestinian intifadas, or uprisings, and appeared certain to inflame a city already buffeted by tensions between Jews and Palestinians over a contested religious site. Secretary of State John Kerry Tuesday condemns an attack on a synagogue in Jerusalem that left four Jewish worshippers and two Palestinian attackers dead. The next steps by Israel were not immediately clear. But any crackdowns in East Jerusalem - such as the home destructions - could touch off more street battles and showdowns centered on the Temple Mount, a site considered holy by both Jews and Muslims and the scene of recent clashes. The synagogue, however, is far from the normal flash points in Jerusalem and reflected the possible widening scope of the violence. Hamas, the militant Palestinian Islamist group that fought a war against Israel this past summer in the Gaza Strip, praised the attack but stopped short of claiming responsibility for the bloodshed - the worst at a religious site in Israel since eight people were killed in 2008 when Palestinian gunmen opened fire at a Jerusalem yeshiva, or Jewish religious school. "What I saw was horrifying," said Avi Nefoussi, a paramedic who was among the first to enter the synagogue minutes after the two attackers were shot dead by police. I saw several bodies lying on the floor - some were people that I knew - and two people badly injured from gunshots. Video released by the Israeli government showed prayer books and shawls splattered with blood. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said six people were also wounded in the attack, including two police officers. He said police were searching the area for other suspects. Police secured the area around the synagogue. Palestinian media reported that the two attackers were Udai and Ghassan Abu Jamal, cousins from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabl Mukabr. Israeli media said that one of the two men worked in a supermarket near the synagogue. In London, Secretary of State John F. Kerry condemned the attacks and demanded that the Palestinian leadership take immediate steps to end incitement to violence among Palestinians. "Innocent people who had come to worship died in the sanctuary of a synagogue," Kerry said shortly after the attack, his voice quavering. "They were hatcheted, hacked and murdered in that holy place in an act of pure terror and senseless brutality and murder," he said after speaking by phone with Netanyahu. I call on Palestinians at every single level of leadership to condemn this in the most powerful terms. This violence has no place anywhere, particularly after the discussion that we just had the other day in Amman. Netanyahu, Kerry and Jordan's King Abdullah II met last week in Jordan in a bid to ease tensions and restore calm after months of violent confrontations between the two sides over access to a sacred shrine holy to both Jews and Muslims. Abbas also condemned the attack. "The presidency condemns the attack on Jewish worshipers in their place of prayer and condemns the killing of civilians no matter who is doing it," his office said in a statement given to the Reuters news agency. British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond also denounced the violence. "What happened in the synagogue is a red line for the Israeli government, and maybe this could change all events," said Shaul Bartal, a retired Israeli major who served in various military positions in the West Bank. He said that many Arab residents of East Jerusalem currently work in Jewish neighborhoods in the city. However, in light of this attack and others over the past few weeks, Israel might be forced to make changes in their status. At a Vatican conference, Lord Sacks, Britain's former chief rabbi, offered a prayer for the victims of the synagogue attack. To attack and murder while someone is immersed in silent prayer - the horror! We pray for the victims and the wounded. We condemn the terrorists and any of those who support them. We are one with our brothers and sisters in the land of Israel," Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld, an Orthodox rabbi in Washington who studied under another member of Twersky's family, posted early Tuesday on his Facebook page. Religious sites have been caught before in the Arab-Israel conflict. In March 2002, at the height of the second intifada, a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up at a Passover meal at a hotel in Netanya, Israel. Thirty civilians were killed. In February 1994, an American-born Israeli, Baruch Goldstein, opened fire on unarmed Palestinian Muslims praying inside the Ibrahimi Mosque at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron. Goldstein, who was a member of the far-right Israeli Kach movement, killed 29 worshipers and wounded more than 100. He was overpowered and beaten to death by survivors at the mosque. Deane reported from London and Murphy reported from Washington. Michelle Boorstein and Debbi Wilgoren in Washington contributed to this report.