JERUSALEM (AP) — Palestinian attackers opened fire at a bus stop at during the morning rush hour in Jerusalem on Monday, killing six people and wounding another 12, according to Israeli officials.
An Israeli soldier and civilians who were at the scene shot and killed the two attackers, said police, who later arrested a third person in connection with the shooting. Footage of the attack showed dozens of people fleeing from the bus stop at a busy intersection. The windshield of a bus was riddled with bullet holes and belongings were scattered across the street.
President Mahmoud Abbas, head of the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority, condemned “any targeting of Palestinian and Israeli civilians,” and “denounced all forms of violence and terrorism, regardless of their source,” according to a statement from his office.
The Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the West Bank and cooperates with Israel on security matters, has been largely sidelined since the start of the war.
Monday's shooting — at a major intersection, with a road leading to Jewish settlements in east Jerusalem — was the deadliest in Israel since October 2024.
Hamas hailed the attack without claiming responsibility, calling it a “natural response to the occupation’s crimes against our people.”
Paramedics who responded to the scene said broken glass covered the area, and people wounded lay unconscious on the road and a sidewalk near the bus stop. Israel's Shin Bet internal security agency said the two attackers were 20- and 21-year-old Palestinians from the West Bank with no prior arrests.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived at the scene some two hours after the shooting. Netanyahu was supposed to be in court on Monday for his ongoing corruption trial, which was delayed due to the attack. He warned that Israel is “fighting a war on multiple fronts," including Gaza and the West Bank.
Hundreds of security forces searched for additional attackers or explosives that could have been planted around the area. On Monday afternoon, police said they arrested a resident of east Jerusalem who was connected to the attack.
The Israeli military said it is encircling Palestinian villages on the outskirts of the nearby West Bank city of Ramallah as it steps up defense in response.
In October 2024, two Palestinians from the West Bank opened fire inside a light rail train in Tel Aviv, killing seven people and leaving many others wounded. Hamas’ military wing claimed responsibility for that attack, the deadliest in Israel since the Oct. 7, 2023, raid that started the war in Gaza.
Data from the U.N.’s humanitarian office says at least 49 Israelis, including some soldiers and police, have been killed by Palestinians in Israel or the West Bank between the start of the war and July this year.
During the same period, Israeli forces and civilians killed at least 968 Palestinians in Israel and the West Bank, according to the data. The Israeli military has said many were militants, though the dead have also included stone throwers and uninvolved civilians. ___
Associated Press writer Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed to this report.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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