Five people have been killed in a shooting attack in Jerusalem, Israeli authorities have said as the Israeli military’s punishing assault on besieged Gaza rages.
Another five people were also evacuated in a “serious condition” with gunshot wounds following the shooting at Ramot Junction, Israel’s paramedic service, Magen David Adom, said on Monday.
Several others were “lightly injured by glass” and treated at the scene, Magen David Adom said.
Israeli police described the shooting as a suspected “terror attack”.
Police said two attackers were “neutralized” soon after the shooting began, but did not immediately respond to a request from the Associated Press news agency for comment on the status of the attackers.
“According to medical sources, several people have been injured, and the terrorists have been neutralised,” police said.
“Police have closed access routes, and large forces are en route to the scene.”
Israeli Army Radio said that police now suspect that the perpetrators of the attack were Palestinians from the occupied West Bank, rather than from occupied East Jerusalem as previously reported.
Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut, reporting from Amman, says “Israeli authorities are saying the two perpetrators are from an area in the occupied West Bank that is just west of occupied East Jerusalem. They say the two worked in tandem in this attack, that two gunmen boarded a bus – witnesses say one of them was dressed as a ticket inspector – and opened fire.”
“This attack took place near an illegal settlement of Ramot, just north of west Jerusalem, and if you look at where the Green Line is on a map it actually bleeds into occupied East Jerusalem. These settlements are deemed illegal under international law and are buildings and structures that infringe on the rights of Palestinians and destroy territorial continuity for a future Palestinian state. ” she added.
“Israeli officials are now trying to wrap their heads around how exactly this happened, saying that they haven’t seen something like this happen in years, saying that the last shooting like this in the greater Jerusalem was back in November in 2023, ” Salhut said.
Doubts attack ordered by Hamas
Meanwhile, Israel Hayom newspaper reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu informed judges that he will not attend his corruption trial session scheduled for today due to the security developments.
Israel’s far-right security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has arrived at the scene of the shooting.
The shooting attack was most likely to have originated from the occupied West Bank, rather than from Hamas in Gaza, Israeli political analyst Ori Goldberg says.
Speaking from Tel Aviv, Goldberg told Al Jazeera he “seriously” doubted it had been ordered by Hamas.
If Hamas had carried out the attack, then it would mean Hamas was “trying to step up its resistance to what is beginning to look like a superimposed attempt to end the war,” he said, referring to comments from the United States Donald Trump administration that it is working on a solution to the war in Gaza.
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