Two men reportedly armed with guns, knives, and axes attacked the Har Nof Synagogue during morning prayers in West Jerusalem on Tuesday, killing four worshippers. The attackers were shot and killed by police on the scene.

At least 12 others were injured in the attack: a spokeswoman for Hadassah Hospital told the New York Times that two (including a police officer) are in critical condition, while two others are in serious condition.

Police traced the men's whereabouts to a Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem, attacking their home with tear gas. A neighbor told police that the two men, Odai and Ghassan Abu Jamal, were cousins. From the New York Times:

Micky Rosenfeld, a spokesman for the Israel police, said an investigation was underway to see whether the suspects were "affiliated with any terrorist organization like Hamas or Islamic Jihad." Ynet, an Israeli news site, said the two were related to one of more than 1,000 Palestinians released from Israeli prisons during a 2011 exchange for an Israeli soldier who was captured five years earlier by Hamas.

Tensions are high in the region as debate between Muslims and Jews over the right to worship at a holy site in the Old City has seen renewed fervor.

"We will respond with a heavy hand to the brutal murder of Jews who came to pray and were eliminated by despicable murderers," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement to press.

Update, 11:23 a.m.: The four men killed during this morning's attack were all rabbis, CBS News reports. Three—Aryeh Kopinsky, Calman Levine, Moshe Twersky—were American-Israeli citizens. The fourth, Avraham Shmuel Goldberg, was a dual British-Israeli citizen.

[Image via AP]