The White House today urged Israel and the Palestinians to stick with US-backed peace efforts despite a shooting attack in Jerusalem that killed eight students at a Jewish religious school.
"The most important thing is that the peace process continue and that the parties are committed to it," White House spokesman Tony Fratto told reporters.
Yesterday's attack by a Palestinian gunman dealt another blow to US President George W. Bush's bid for a peace deal before he leaves office in January 2009, a goal already beset by deep skepticism and persistent violence.
Condemning the deadliest attack in Israel in two years, Mr Bush said earlier that the United States stood firmly with the Jewish state.
Asked whether the White House was disappointed by the UN Security Council's failure to condemn the assault, Mr Fratto said, "There's nothing to explain that an attack of this nature ... deserves anything less than condemnation."
Hamas Islamists today claimed responsibility for the shooting at the school in Jerusalem. "The Hamas movement announces its full responsibility for the Jerusalem operation. The movement will release the details at a later stage," a Hamas official said.
Israel imposed a security clampdown on Jerusalem and the West Bank after the attack.
Thousands of mourners poured into Jerusalem to take part in open-air funerals for the victims, aged 15 to 26. Police set up road blocks and the army tightened restrictions on Palestinian travel in and from the occupied West Bank for 36 hours.
The gunman, whose family in Arab East Jerusalem said he had once worked as a driver for the college, was shot dead after opening fire with an automatic rifle at students in the library.
The Merkaz Harav seminary has long been an ideological base for the Jewish settler movement in the Palestinian territories. East Jerusalem residents named the gunman as Ala Abu Dhaim.