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Six killed in rush hour bus shooting in Jerusalem

Sky News

United Kingdom

Monday, September 8


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Gaza Military Incident

Israeli Government Response


Two gunmen boarded a bus on the outskirts of Jerusalem at rush hour and shot dead six people in one of the deadliest attacks the city has seen in recent times.

Footage from a dashboard camera showed dozens of people fleeing from a bus stop as shots rang out.

Paramedics who responded said the scene was chaotic and covered in broken glass, with people wounded and lying unconscious on the road and a pavement near the bus stop.

The two attackers were shot dead by police. A third suspect was later arrested.

A motive for the shooting has not yet been confirmed. Pic: Reuters
Image: A motive for the shooting has not yet been confirmed. Pic: Reuters

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has visited the scene and is assessing, with his heads of security, what happened.

He sent condolences to the families of the victims and said Israel was"in an intense war against terror on several fronts".

He vowed:"We are now in pursuit, sieging the villages from which the murderers came. And we will get everyone who helped them, everyone who sent them, and we will carry out even tougher measures."

It is understood a total of about 15 people were injured - with six in a serious condition - after the attackers opened fire as the bus reached a major intersection at the northern entrance to Jerusalem, on a road that leads to Jewish settlements in east Jerusalem.

Israel Defence Forces soldiers were dispatched and are searching the area for any other suspects. They are also searching several Palestinian villages on the outskirts of the nearby West Bank city of Ramallah.

Prime Minister Netanyahu at the scene. Pic: Reuters
Image: Prime Minister Netanyahu at the scene. Pic: Reuters

Palestinian militant group Hamas praised two Palestinian"resistance fighters" who it said had carried out the attack but it stopped short of claiming responsibility.

Ester Lugasi, who was among the injured, told Israeli TV from hospital:"Suddenly I hear the shots starting... I felt like I was running for an eternity.

"I thought I was going to die."

The bus with bullet holes in the windscreen. Pic: Reuters
Image: The bus with bullet holes in the windscreen. Pic: Reuters

Among the dead was a man of about 50 years old, three men aged around 30 and a woman of about 50.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said during a visit to Budapest that six people were killed and a pregnant woman was among several injured.

Other casualties have been evacuated from the scene to hospitals in Jerusalem. A number are said to be in a serious condition with gunshot wounds.

Several people with minor injuries from glass shards were treated at the roadside.

The shooting is sure to ignite tensions in the region.

Even before it happened, Israel had vowed to ramp up airstrikes on Gaza in a"mighty hurricane", to serve as a last warning to Hamas that it will destroy the enclave unless fighters accept a demand from US President Donald Trump to free all hostages and surrender.

A Palestinian woman carries a prayer mat at the site of an overnight Israeli strike on a tent, in Gaza City.
Pic: Reuters
Image: A Palestinian woman carries a prayer mat at the site of an overnight Israeli strike on a tent, in Gaza City. Pic: Reuters

Residents said Israeli forces bombed Gaza City from the air and blew up armoured vehicles in its streets.

'A mighty hurricane'

Hamas said it was studying the latest US ceasefire proposal, delivered on Sunday with a warning from Trump's that it was the militant group's"last chance".

"A mighty hurricane will hit the skies of Gaza City today, and the roofs of the terror towers will shake," Israeli defence minister Israel Katz wrote on X.

"This is a final warning to the murderers and rapists of Hamas in Gaza and in the luxury hotels abroad: Release the

hostages and lay down your weapons - or Gaza will be destroyed, and you will be annihilated," he wrote.

The war in Gaza has sparked a surge of violence in both the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Israel.

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