The deputy mayor of Jerusalem has vowed to “punish” the Palestinian population of occupied East Jerusalem following a shooting on Sunday which left two Israelis dead.

Meir Turgeman, who is chair of the planning and building board, told Radio Jerusalem: “We have reached the moment of truth. Let’s put all the cards on the table. The people in East Jerusalem want to kill us and destroy us. Why do we need to give them a new chance every day?”

He continued: “Each time we lived in false hope that these people, if we would help them, would change their animal behaviour, but it turns out that nothing helps.”

Turgeman said he had taken “all the construction plans related to East Jerusalem off the agenda”, adding: “I shelved all of the plans. They say carrots and sticks. There are no carrots left, only sticks.”

The official also urged authorities to “load the terrorist’s family on a bus and send them to Gaza.”

“I know the Arabs, and I have worked with them many years. The moment we deal with them with a heavy hand, the moment that the terrorist’s family today finds themselves on a bus to Gaza with a one-way ticket, I promise you that they will think 1,000 times before committing an act of terror.”

Turgeman further suggested stripping the residencies of thousands of Palestinians of East Jerusalem: “There are neighbourhoods in Jerusalem that we can let go…There are neighbourhoods like the Shoafat refugee camp that will die there. They will kill one another. Let them do what they want to do.”

Last month, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat boasted of the policies of collective punishment imposed on the city’s Palestinian residents, through cooperation with the Shin Bet security service, including restrictions on movement and the use of municipal enforcement mechanisms.