An Israeli minister has called for the dismantlement of the Palestinian Authority following the attack
Six people were killed and several others injured in a shooting at a bus station in East Jerusalem, Israeli officials said Monday. Two Palestinian gunmen were shot dead at the scene, they added.
The shooters reportedly came from the West Bank, prompting calls from Israeli officials for tougher measures against Palestinians living under Israeli military rule there.
One of the victims was identified by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as an ultra-Orthodox soldier from the Hashmonaim Battalion, a unit launched last year to accommodate Haredi Jews.
“A pursuit and encirclement of the villages from which the terrorists came is under way,” Netanyahu said, describing the deaths as part of Israel’s “intense war against terror on several fronts.” President Isaac Herzog echoed the remarks, saying Israel is fighting “absolute evil.”
The shooting came as Israel continues its military campaign in Gaza with the stated goal of destroying the militant group Hamas following its deadly October 2023 incursion.
The attack has fueled calls to widen Israel’s crackdown on Palestinians. Economy Minister Nir Barkat blamed the Palestinian Authority, the internationally recognized governing body in the West Bank and a rival to Hamas, and called for dismantling it entirely.
Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas reacted to the incident by condemning “all forms of violence and terrorism from any source” and urged Israel to end its occupation of Palestinian territories. Hamas called the shooting “a natural response to the occupation’s crimes and war of extermination” in Gaza.
The official death toll in the enclave surpassed 64,000 last week, while the real number of deaths is believed to be higher.
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Meanwhile, the party of Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has called for the death penalty for terrorism-related crimes.
Israel has used capital punishment only twice in its history – for Holocaust mastermind Adolf Eichmann and for an Israeli officer accused of treason in 1948, who was later exonerated.
Russia has warned that Israel’s sweeping response to the 2023 Hamas raid will not resolve its security challenges and has urged West Jerusalem to support the establishment of a viable Palestinian state, an outcome Netanyahu has vowed to block.
