Israeli authorities launched raids throughout the West Bank on Monday, looking for information on a shooting at a bus stop in north Jerusalem that killed six people and injured at least 12 others.
Police said a pair of gunmen opened fire about 10:15 a.m. on people waiting for a bus at Jerusalem’s Ramot Junction. Israeli authorities have called the shooting a terrorist attack.
The assailants then boarded a bus to continue their attack. An Israel Defense Forces soldier and several civilians at the scene returned fire, killing both terrorists.
The location where the shooting happened is one of the busiest intersections in Jerusalem. Videos taken at the scene showed the commuter bus pockmarked with bullet holes while shattered glass was strewn across the road.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later visited the scene of the attack at Ramot Junction and said it was one front of the country’s ongoing war against terrorism.
He offered condolences to the families of those who were killed and best wishes for a speedy recovery to the wounded.
“We are now engaged in pursuit and are cordoning off the villages from which the murderers came. We will apprehend whoever aided and dispatched them, and we will take even stronger steps,” Mr. Netanyahu said, according to a statement released by the prime minister’s office. “These murders and attacks, in all sectors, will not weaken us. They will only increase our determination to complete the mission we have taken upon ourselves in Gaza, Judea and Samaria and everywhere.”
Israel police and the country’s security agency, known as Shin Bet, later arrested an East Jerusalem resident believed to have been involved in the shooting at Ramot Junction.
“The investigation continues with the aim of bringing to justice all those found to be involved in the terrorist attack,” Israeli police said. “We will reach all the elements involved in the incident.”
Government officials identified the dead as Levi Yitzhak Pash, 57, Yaakov Pinto, 25, Yisrael Mtazner, 28, Rabbi Yosef David, 43, Rabbi Mordechai Steintzag, 79, and Sarah Mendelson, 60. The Times of Israel newspaper said Mr. Pash lived in Tel Aviv while the other victims were residents of Jerusalem.
“This abominable attack will have the most severe and far-reaching consequences. We will pursue terror everywhere,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement. “Whoever sponsors terror and directs terror will pay the full price.”
The shooting attack came amid Mr. Netanyahu’s decision to expand operations against Hamas fighters inside the Gaza Strip.
On Monday, Mr. Katz warned Hamas leaders that Gaza City, the largest city in the Palestinian enclave, faces ruin if they don’t release the hostages abducted in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel. He warned that “a powerful hurricane will strike the skies of Gaza City” if Israel launches its threatened offensive into the capital of the Palestinian enclave.
“This is a final warning to the murderers and rapists of Hamas in Gaza and in luxury homes abroad: Release the hostages and lay down your weapons — or Gaza will be destroyed and you will be annihilated,” Mr. Katz posted on X.
During a cabinet meeting on Sunday, Mr. Netanyahu said the IDF established an additional humanitarian corridor to allow the civilian population in Gaza City to leave for a safe location where humanitarian assistance will be provided. He said about 100,000 people have departed.
“Hamas is trying to do its utmost so that no one will go away and they will stay there in order to serve as human shields,” he said. “It is expected [Hamas] will try to prevent the exit that is necessary from a humanitarian perspective, and from our perspective regarding the war. We want to focus on the terrorists themselves and enable the civilian population to go out.”
Israel has reportedly signed on to a U.S.-brokered peace plan that would see the hostages returned in exchange for the start of negotiations to end the fighting. An IDF ground invasion of Gaza City would be held in check as long as both parties are talking, according to Israel’s Channel 12 news network.
“The outline has quite a few holes, chief among them the question of how to convince Hamas to even consider giving up the hostages in exchange for a mere verbal promise that the war will end?” Channel 12 reported. “Indeed, it is clear that the hostages are its only bargaining chips.”
Mr. Katz said the ID is continuing to plan future operations in the Gaza Strip and is prepared to expand operations to “decisively defeat Gaza.”
President Trump said freeing the hostages and ending Israel’s ongoing war with Hamas is in the best interests of all parties to the conflict.
• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.
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