At least six killed in Jerusalem bus shooting

Palestinian gunmen opened fire at a bus stop in east Jerusalem on Monday, killing at least six people and wounding several others.

The two attackers boarded a bus on Monday morning during rush hour, spraying passengers with bullets from automatic weapons.

Four victims were declared dead at the scene, including a man in his 50s and three men in their 30s, while two others died in hospital.

At least 11 others were injured, including seven in a serious condition in hospital.

Israeli police are describing it as a suspected terrorist attack, and said the gunmen were killed at the scene.

Hamas praised the attack in a statement, calling it a “natural response to the crimes of occupation and the genocide it is waging against our people”.

The Palestinian terror group did not take responsibility, but called on West Bank Palestinians to “escalate the confrontation with the occupation and its settlers”.

The shooting took place at a major intersection at the northern entrance to Jerusalem, on a road that leads to Jewish settlements located in the east of the city.

Footage of the attack shows dozens of people fleeing from a bus stop at the busy intersection during the morning rush hour.

Wounded people were later seen lying unconscious on the road close to the bus stop. Two young men, thought to have been the attackers, were also seen laying dead on a pavement.

Security officials told The Times of Israel that the attackers were Palestinians from the occupied West Bank, but their identities have not yet been disclosed.

The shooters used a makeshift “Carlo” submachine gun, according to images from the scene.

Police said that the two gunmen were killed by a security officer and an armed civilian, reported to be a young Haredi man.

A woman who was on the bus when the suspects opened fire recounted trying to escape from “indescribable gunfire”.

“I was on the bus. The bus was packed,” the woman, who did not give her name, told Israel’s Channel 12.

“The moment [the driver] opened the door … terrorists came. It was terrible. I was by the back door, I fell on everyone and escaped, I saved myself.

“There was gunfire there beyond anything imaginable. I can’t believe I’m standing here. Indescribable gunfire.”

An early police statement said: “A short time ago, police received a report of gunfire at the Ramat Junction.

“Preliminary reports indicate that several people were injured as a result of the shooting, and the terrorists were neutralised.

“Access routes to the scene have been closed. Large police forces, under the command of the district commander, are on their way to the scene.”

A statement from Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the Israeli prime minister “is currently conducting a situation assessment with the heads of the security establishment following the attack in Jerusalem”.

Mr Netanyahu was scheduled to appear in court today in his ongoing corruption case but his lawyers asked for proceedings to be postponed because of the shooting incident.

There has been an increase in terror attacks in Israel since Hamas’s Oct 7 attacks in 2023 and the subsequent war in Gaza.

The last deadly mass shooting was in October 2024, when two Palestinians from the West Bank opened fire on a major road in Tel Aviv and shot directly into a light rail carriage, killing seven people.

Hamas’s military wing claimed responsibility for the attack.

The attack comes as Israel is ramping up its aerial assault on Gaza City, having brought down two skyscrapers in the city’s centre at the weekend that it said were being used by Hamas.

Israeli defence forces estimate that 100,000 Gazans have now fled the city for camps in the south but it is estimated that somewhere between 700,000 and a million people remain.

Amid mounting international condemnation of Israel’s expansion of the war and a deadlock in ceasefire negotiations, reports suggest Donald Trump will personally oversee talks between Israel and Hamas to secure permanent peace in Gaza.

In a message on his Truth Social account on Sunday night, the US president said Israel had accepted his “Terms” for a new deal that was shared secretly with both parties.

He also warned Hamas there would be “consequences” if it did not respond in kind.

“This is my last warning, there will not be another one!” he wrote.

Media reports in the region said the deal was “comprehensive” and would see all 48 of the remaining hostages released in exchange for a ceasefire and a halt to the Israeli takeover of Gaza City, Hamas’s last remaining stronghold in Gaza.

The deal will also see Israel release up to 3,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, reported the Axios news service, citing sources with direct knowledge of the deal.

Israel’s Supreme Court on Sunday ruled that the state had deprived Palestinian prisoners of a minimum subsistence diet and ordered authorities to improve their nutrition.

In a rare decision to exercise wartime restraint, the three-judge panel said the Israeli government had a legal duty to provide detainees with enough food to ensure “a basic level of existence”.

Thousands of Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank have been detained by the Israeli army on suspicion of militant ties since the war began. Many, released after months of detention without charge, have spoken of brutal conditions, including meagre food supplies and overcrowding.

[Source: Daily Telegrph]