JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Authorities closed the Palestinian territories Friday, a day after a gunman from East Jerusalem opened fire at a Jewish seminary school, killing eight students.

The general closure of the West Bank and Gaza went into effect early Friday morning and "will be lifted according to security assessments," a statement from Israel Defense Forces said.

A Jerusalem police spokesman identified the shooter Friday as Ala Abu Dehein from East Jerusalem's Jabel Mukaber neighborhood. He was employed as a driver and held an identity card that Israel issues to Palestinians who live in East Jerusalem.

Hundreds of Israelis gathered at the school Friday to mourn the students who were killed in Thursday's attack. The grief-stricken crowd spilled outside the school and onto the surrounding streets.

The students, ages 15 to 26, died Thursday night when a gunman armed with an automatic weapon and a handgun slipped into the school and began shooting.

Their bodies were wrapped in white-and-blue cloth and laid on benches in the school's courtyard.

At least nine others were wounded before an off-duty Israel Defense Forces officer shot the gunman dead, Jerusalem District Police commander Aharon Franko said.

Hours later, the U.N. Security Council met to discuss a public statement condemning the attack as terrorism, but couldn't reach a consensus. The council said Libya -- a new, non-permanent member -- blocked the statement.

The gunman carried an AK-47 and a pistol -- and he had time to swap weapons during the massacre.

Heightened tensions prompted Israeli authorities to beef up security, prompting the closures of the Palestinian territories and limiting access for many young men to the Al Aqsa Mosque in Old Jerusalem.

Israeli police have identified the shooter as a resident of East Jerusalem who also held an Israeli identification card.

Police are trying to figure out how the gunman managed to enter the large three-story school -- situated in a bustling residential neighborhood -- with little notice.

"There was no alert or warning about this attack," Franko said.

A first responder told CNN that the bodies were found on the floor of the study hall surrounded by holy books.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, which happened around 8:30 p.m.

Video from Thursday's scene showed a frantic crowd of rescue workers carrying bloodied victims into ambulances. Dozens of police officers were scouring the campus and streets around the yeshiva in case there were other gunmen.

Outside the school, scores of Israeli men gathered from surrounding neighborhoods, demanding justice for the attack.

Authorities are calling the incident at west Jerusalem's Merkaz Harav yeshiva an act of terrorism. The school is one of the largest seminaries in Israel, with about 500 students in the yeshiva and 200 in a advanced graduate program.

"Israel is at the forefront of the struggle against terrorism and will continue to defend its citizens, who are exposed to this threat on a daily basis," Israel's Foreign Ministry said in a written statement.

"Israel expects the nations of the world to support it in its war against those who murder students, women and children, by any means and with respect for neither place nor target."

Libya's U.N. objection

President Bush backed Israeli leaders in a statement issued Thursday, saying, "I condemn in the strongest possible terms the terrorist attack in Jerusalem that targeted innocent students at the Merkaz Harav yeshiva. This barbaric and vicious attack on innocent civilians deserves the condemnation of every nation."

But Ibrahim Dabbashi, Libya's deputy ambassador to the United Nations, said the attack on the school was no different that Israeli military offensives against militants in Gaza.

"We see the killing, the bloodshed in the Palestinian territory. ... For us, the human lives are the same. We judge the incident itself," Dabbashi told reporters after the Security Council meeting Thursday night. "When we have to condemn the killing of the Israeli civilians, we also have to look at what's happening in Gaza."

Authorities said security was bolstered, with thousands of additional officers across Jerusalem and the rest of Israel.

Meanwhile, intense celebratory shooting took place in Gaza City after the news of the attack, with hundreds chanting and clapping in the streets. But Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the attack.

"The Palestinian Authority condemns any attack on innocent civilians," Abbas' office said in a written statement.

The shootings came just a day after U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who met with both Israelis and Palestinians, announced that peace talks will resume between the two both sides.

Abbas suspended peace negotiations last week after fierce fighting broke out between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza. But he agreed to resume negotiations after meeting with Rice.

Israel will continue peace talks with the Palestinians regardless of the attack in Jerusalem, Foreign Ministry spokesman Aryeh Mekel said Thursday.

Israel conducted a large-scale operation in Gaza to hunt down Palestinian militants who have been firing dozens of rockets into Israel. At least 70 Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers were killed during the operation, Israeli and Palestinian sources said. Palestinian militants also fired at least 25 rockets toward Israel, wounding at least two civilians.

"This operation came directly after the attack committed inside Gaza. This operation is a normal response," Fawzi Barhoom, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza, told CNN.

But Dan Gillerman, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, told CNN he saw no connection between Thursday's shooting and Israel's operations in Gaza.

"This is not a story of retaliation," he said. "These people have been terrorizing Israel for years, have been carrying out suicide bombings and indiscriminate attacks for years."

Gillerman said the Security Council should condemn the attack. "They they are so, so quick sometimes to criticize Israel for defending itself. I would like to see those members convene as we speak in order to condemn this in the strongest possible terms."

Thursday's attack was the worst inside Israel since April 17, 2006, when a suicide bombing outside a falafel restaurant in Tel Aviv killed nine people. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for that attack.

Attacks in Jerusalem are rare. Last year, eight people were wounded August 10 in the Old City when a Palestinian resident grabbed a security guard's gun and fired, and four Israeli security guards were wounded May 26 when two Palestinian gunmen began firing in east Jerusalem. All three of the assailants were killed.