The organization had sent a statement to reporters' beepers, saying they attacked the school in retaliation for Palestinians' attacks on Jewish children. The group has in the past claimed responsibility for attacks on Palestinians, among them an attack in 2002 on another elementary school in Tzur Baher, a neighborhood in east Jerusalem, in which seven Palestinian children were wounded.

Knesset member Uri Ariel said if police find that Jewish men were responsible for the attack, they should be dealt with "with the full force of the law."