The shooting at Monday’s bus stop in Jerusalem killed six people and wounded several others, including a pregnant woman, said Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, at a press conference during a visit to Budapest.
Previously, the emergency service and medical teams “pronounced the death of four victims, including a man of about 50 years and three men of about 30 years,” said a statement from Magen David Adom, Israel’s emergency service, and added that he was providing medical treatment to several other people, with five evacuated to hospitals.
The service received reports from more than a dozen people injured by shots on Monday at a road crossing in eastern Jerusalem, and the police said the assailants had been “neutralized.”
He later said that paramedics and ambulance equipment were providing medical treatment and evacuating five “seriously injured people” who had been sent to hospitals in Jerusalem.
“Several other victims, with various degrees of injuries, are also being treated at the scene,” he added.
It was not clear immediately who carried out the shooting or what was the reason. The Israeli police described the shooters as “terrorists” without saying how many had been involved in the incident. They also claimed that the perpetrators had been killed, according to Reuters.
The Israeli ambulance service previously said that 15 people were injured and that at least five were in serious condition with gunshot wounds. The paramedics who arrived at the scene found the accustomed victims on the road and the sidewalk near a bus stop, some of them unconscious.
The images of a dashboard on the scene showed that people fled from the neighborhood of a bus arrested next to a road while the shots sounded. Another video showed the windshield and windows of a bus perforated with bullet holes.
“Suddenly I hear the shots starting … I felt that I was running for an eternity,” said Ester Lugasi, who was injured in the attack, to Israeli television from the hospital. “I thought I was going to die.”
Haaretz In addition, citing the police, that the two suspects had been shot dead by “a civil member of the security forces that was present at the scene.”
“The Israeli security establishment estimates that the two are fed residents, and that they shot on a bus and a bus stop at the crossroads,” said the newspaper.
Haaretz He also reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived at the shooting site after carrying out an evaluation of the situation with the officials. Speaking in the attack scene, Netanyahu said that the Israeli forces were pursuing suspects that helped the shooters.
Several weapons, ammunition and a knife used by the attackers on the scene were recovered, the police said.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said he was “deeply shocked” by the incident, describing him as a “cowardly terrorist attack.”
“My thoughts are with the families of the victims. I want those who were injured a rapid recovery,” he wrote in X.
In October 2024, two Palestinians, one armed with a gun and the other armed with a knife, killed seven people in Tel Aviv.
In November 2023, two Palestinian armed men killed three people at a bus stop in Jerusalem. Israeli security services said the attackers in the 2023 Jerusalem shooting were linked to Hamas.
Hamas, Islamic Jihad does not claim responsibility
Meanwhile, Hamas issued a statement about the attack, without claiming it, but saying that it was carried out by two Palestinians.
“We affirm that this operation is a natural response to the crimes of the occupation and the genocide that is freeing our people,” said Hamas, according to AFP.
Al Jazeera He informed that in his statement, Hamas requested “more armed attacks in the occupied territory.” He cited the group by saying that Israel’s aggression against the Palestinians in Gaza and the busy West Bank “will not weaken the determination of our people and their resistance.”
Similarly, the Islamic Jihad, another Palestinian group did not affirm the responsibility for it.
Al Jazeera He informed that the group’s armed wing said in a brief statement that the shooting was “a natural and legitimate response to the ongoing crimes of the Zionist enemy” in the Palestinian territories.
However, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas issued a statement that condemned “any orientation of Palestinian and Israeli civilians.”
Israel is likely to take reprisals for Jerusalem shootings: expert
Israel is likely to respond to the shooting with remuneration acts aimed at the houses of the gunmen, following their history of reprisals to previous attacks, says Israeli political analyst Ori Goldberg.
“I suppose the answer would be extremely tactical,” he said, according to Al Jazeera. “They would try to identify the gunmen who carried out the attack, then they would go after their people or city of residence, [and] Demonst your homes. “
He said that in response to a previous attack, Israel had ordered that thousands of trees were destroyed in the native village of an attacker. “They would take all kinds of punitive actions,” he said.
“Israel is not able to carry out anything that is broader than a … Tit-for-Tat, trying to show that it has the advantage using an excessive level of strength,” he added. “This is true in Gaza, it will be true in the West Bank.”
