More Israelis may be getting access to firearms as tensions heat up in the middle east.

Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced plans to make it easier to get guns due to escalating violence in the occupied Palestinian territory. Seven people were killed in the shooting outside the east Jerusalem synagogue on Friday. There has been increased confrontation between Israelis and Palestinians following an Israeli raid in the occupied west bank city of Jenin.

Israeli forces have killed 32 Palestinians this month.

Israel had not carried out a raid on the scale of its operation in Jenin in years. Their efforts are part of intensified military incursions by the Israeli army into the occupied west bank, which killed at least 200 Palestinians in the past year. Netanyahu has promised to expedite gun permits for Israeli citizens and to step up efforts to collect “illegal weapons”.

Opponents believe giving more citizens guns will simply increase the overall violence and lead to more deaths on both sides.