Attack on bus kills five
A female passenger told Israel’s Channel 12 the bus was packed when the gunmen came on board.
“The moment [the driver] opened the door … terrorists came. It was terrible. I was by the back door, I fell on everyone and escaped, I saved myself,” the woman, who did not give her name, reportedly said. “There was gunfire there beyond anything imaginable. I can’t believe I’m standing here. Indescribable gunfire.”
Rescue and recovery workers carry the body of a victim at the scene.Credit: AP
Police said several weapons, ammunition and a knife used by the attackers were found at the scene. The shooters used makeshift “Carlo” submachine guns, London’s Telegraph reported.
A statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he was conducting a situation assessment with heads of the security establishment following the attack.
Hundreds of security forces arrived at the scene to search for additional attackers or explosives that could have been planted. The Israeli military said it was encircling Palestinian villages on the outskirts of the nearby West Bank city of Ramallah as it stepped up its defences in response to the attack.
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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.
While there have been scattered attacks over the past months in Israel, the last deadly mass shooting attack was in October 2024, when two Palestinians from the West Bank opened fire on a major boulevard and light rail station in the Tel Aviv area, killing seven people and leaving many others wounded. Hamas’ military wing claimed responsibility for that attack.
In November 2023, two Palestinian gunmen killed three people at a Jerusalem bus stop. Israeli security services said that the attackers in the 2023 Jerusalem shooting were linked to Hamas.
Data from the United Nations’ humanitarian office says at least 49 Israelis were killed by Palestinians in Israel or the West Bank between the start of the war and July 2025. In that time, Israeli forces and civilians killed at least 968 Palestinians in Israel and the West Bank.
AP, Reuters
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