JERUSALEM—Two Hamas terrorists killed three people at a Jerusalem bus stop during morning rush hour on Thursday, and Israel reaffirmed its determination to annihilating the Palestinian Islamist terrorist group that sparked the Gaza war on Oct. 7.
According to police, the assailants, Palestinians from East Jerusalem, were shot dead by off-duty troops and an armed citizen. The gunfire also injured at least eight individuals.
“The terrorists arrived at the scene by car in the morning, armed with an M-16 rifle and a handgun,” police said. “The terrorists began shooting at civilians before subsequently being killed at the scene.”
A white automobile is seen stopping alongside the busy bus stop in security camera footage acquired by Reuters. Two guys suddenly emerge, rifles drawn, and charge at the throng, scattering them. The Palestinian assailants are shot shortly afterwards.
A significant number of first responders and security officers descended on the busy morning commuting area. According to Israeli media, the victims were a lady in her twenties, a woman in her sixties, and a 74-year-old rabbi.
The shooters were identified as 30- and 38-year-old brothers associated with Hamas, which governs Gaza, by Israel's Shin Bet security service. Both had already served prison sentences in Israel.
“It is the same Hamas that carried out the horrible Oct. 7 massacre, the same Hamas that tries to murder us everywhere,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, shortly after meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Tel Aviv. “I told [Mr. Blinken]: ‘We swore, I swore, to eradicate Hamas. Nothing will stop us.'”
Hamas, which has vowed to destroy Israel, claimed responsibility for the Jerusalem bombing.
Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel's police minister, told reporters at the scene that the incident "proves again how we must not show weakness, that we must speak to Hamas only through the [rifle] scopes, only through the war."
He also stated that Israel will maintain its strategy of relaxing limits for the issuance of weapons permits to private persons.
Mr. Blinken, on his third visit to the region since the war erupted, said Thursday’s shooting was a reminder “of the threat from terrorism that Israel and Israelis face every single day. … My heart goes out to the victims of this attack.”
Separately, the Israeli military said two troops were hurt in a car-ramming incident at a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank. Troops on the scene "shot and neutralized the assailant," according to the report. There was no instant response from the Palestinians.
The violence occurred as Israel and Hamas agreed at the last minute on Thursday to extend their six-day truce in Gaza by one day to allow negotiators to continue working on accords to swap hostages held in the territory for Palestinian detainees.
