Palestinian gunmen kill five people in attack on Jerusalem bus stop

Jerusalem — Palestinian gunmen opened fire at a bus stop in north Jerusalem on Monday, killing five people and wounding several others, according to officials. The attack targeted a location on a road that leads to East Jerusalem. 

Israeli emergency service Magen David Adom (MDA) said five people were killed in the shooting attack, updating an earlier toll of four. Police said two gunmen were also killed.

The MDA said seven other people were left in serious condition.

The dead included a man “about 50 years old and three men aged around 30,” according to a statement from the MDA, which added that it was providing medical treatment to several of those injured.

The late morning attack took place at the Ramot Junction on Yigal Street, and left about 15 people wounded, an earlier statement by MDA said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was holding a meeting to assess the situation after the shooting, his office said.

Palestinian militant group Hamas, which has been at war with Israel in Gaza for nearly two years, praised the attack, saying it was carried out by two Palestinian militants.

“We affirm that this operation is a natural response to the crimes of the occupation and the genocide it is waging against our people,” Hamas said in a statement.

“The wounded were lying on the road and sidewalk near a bus stop, some of them unconscious,” paramedic Fadi Dekaidek, who was at the scene, said in a statement provided by the MDA.

Police said the attackers had opened fire on a bus stop after arriving in a vehicle.

“A security officer and a civilian at the scene responded immediately, returned fire, and neutralized the attackers,” they said in a statement.

Speaking on Israel’s Channel 12, a police spokesperson said there were two assailants involved, with the force later confirming both were pronounced dead at the scene.

The shooting was one of the deadliest incidents of its kind since the war in Gaza was sparked by the Hamas-orchestrated, Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,200 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli officials.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed at least 64,368 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures provided by the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, which the United Nations considers the most reliable information available.