At least six people have been feared dead after shooters targeted a bus in Jerusalem. Earlier, it was reported that 15 people were injured, with several others in critical condition. The police, who tagged two shooters as “terrorists”, say that they have been neutralised.
The shooting on Monday morning took place at a major intersection at the northern entrance to Jerusalem, on a road that leads to Jewish settlements located in eastern Jerusalem.
Six killed in Jerusalem shooting
Sky News, citing Israel’s emergency services MDA, reported that of the six people killed, one was a man and a woman in their 50s, while the others were men in their 30s.
Videos from the incident circulating on social media show scenes of chaos as Israeli police move in to secure the area. The scene is littered with broken glass, and several people are seen lying unconscious on the road. Footage from inside the bus reveals shattered windows and extensive damage.
Other videos capture panicked individuals fleeing the bus stop early in the morning after the attack, desperately trying to escape the incident site.
The war in Gaza has sparked a surge of violence in both the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Israel. Palestinian militants have attacked and killed Israelis in Israel and the West Bank, while there has also been a rise in settler violence against Palestinians.
PM Netanyahu on ground zero
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is at the ground zero with his heads of security and is assessing the situation. “We are in an intense war against terror on several fronts. I want to send condolences to the families of the dead and to the wounded,” Netanyahu said at the scene of the attack.
“A pursuit and encirclement of the villages from which the terrorists came is underway. One of the people who killed the terrorist was an ultra-Orthodox soldier from the Hashmonaim Battalion,” Netanyahu added.