PITTSBURGH — President Joe Biden on Sunday marked the sixth anniversary of a gunman’s deadly attack on a Pittsburgh synagogue and called out what he called an “appalling surge of antisemitism” amid the war in Gaza.

The 2018 attack claimed the lives of 11 worshippers from Dor Hadash, New Light and Tree of Life congregations, which shared space in the synagogue in Squirrel Hill. Two worshippers and five responding police officers were also injured in the attack, the deadliest act of antisemitism in U.S. history.

Biden said in a statement that the attack “shattered families, pierced the heart of the Jewish community, and struck the soul of our nation.” But he said that in the years since, the Jewish community “has also shown the country how to courageously turn pain into purpose” launching “a global initiative to counter hate and hate-fueled violence.”

In June, ground was broken for a new complex on the Pittsburgh site that is to include a cultural center, sanctuary, educational center and museum along with a memorial to the slain worshipers from three congregations.

— The Associated Press