Six dead in Jerusalem shooting

A tragic day in Jerusalem. Six people have died and more than a dozen have been injured in an attack allegedly carried out by two Palestinian terrorists at a bus stop on Yigal Yadin Avenue, at the Ramot road junction in the north of the city. 

According to the Israeli national emergency service Maguen David Adom (MDA), four people died at the scene of the attack, three men in their 30s, including Spanish citizen Yaakov Pinto, born in Melilla and resident in Israel, and a man in his 50s. Two more victims died in nearby hospitals. Up to twelve people were evacuated to Shaare Zedek and Hadassah hospitals: seven in serious condition with gunshot wounds, two in moderate condition and three with minor injuries caused by glass fragments. 

The alleged terrorists were shot dead after firing early in the morning at several people waiting for a bus on the 62 route at the aforementioned stop on Yigal Yadin Avenue. 

According to the Israeli police, the assailants were Palestinian citizens and were shot dead at the scene by an Israeli Security Forces soldier and several armed civilians who were in the area. 

The officially known names of the victims are: Levi Yitzhak Pash, a maintenance worker at the Kol Torah Yeshiva in Jerusalem and a resident of Tel Tzion; Yisrael Metzner, 28, from Jerusalem; Yosef David, 43, from Jerusalem, who was on his way to study at a kollel; and the aforementioned Yaakov Pinto, 25, from Jerusalem, a Spanish immigrant who had recently married. 

Paramedic Nadav Taieb described the horrific scene after the terrorist attack: ‘When we arrived, we saw people lying unconscious on the street near the bus stop. There was widespread destruction, broken glass and chaos. We immediately began treating the wounded and continued evacuating them to hospitals,’ as reported by Ynet. 

Shortly after the attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir arrived at the scene. Speaking to the media, Netanyahu said that Israel is waging a tough war on multiple fronts against terrorism. 

All this while the current war in Gaza continues, with Israel carrying out heavy attacks on Gazan territory that have already left tens of thousands of victims in response to the terrible attacks committed by the Palestinian extremist group Hamas on 7 October 2023, which left more than 1,200 dead and up to 250 people kidnapped. 

In this regard, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar was emphatic in his response to what he considered a Palestinian threat seeking to destroy Israel: 'We categorically reject the current attempts to force Israel to accept a Palestinian terrorist state in the heart of our small land. This morning's terrorists came from Palestinian Authority territories. The establishment of such a terrorist state would have only one goal: the elimination of the State of Israel.' 

'We are at war with radical Islamist terrorism,' Gideon Sa'ar said.