6 Killed, 12 Injured in Jerusalem Terror Attack

Six people were murdered Monday and 12 were wounded, six of them seriously, when a pair of Palestinian terrorists opened fire on vehicles and pedestrians in Jerusalem’s Ramot Junction.

The two gunmen, residents of the West Bank, arrived at the junction shortly after 10 a.m. — according to some reports, by car — and opened fire at people waiting at a bus stop as well at a bus that had just stopped there.

Police said that a soldier and a number of civilians who were present at the scene fired at the terrorists and killed them.

The military said the soldier was an off-duty squad commander in the military’s new Hasmonean Brigade, a unit for ultra-Orthodox troops. Magen David Adom said four of the victims were declared dead at the scene, while two others were rushed to hospital and later succumbed to their wounds.

At least six others were listed in serious condition, as well as two whose status was moderate and three who were lightly hurt, according to MDA.

The dead were named as Levi Yitzhak Pash, 57, Yaakov Pinto, 25, Yisrael Matzner, 28, and Rabbi Yosef David, 43, Rabbi Mordechai Steintzag, 79, and Sarah Mendelson, 60.

The two terrorists were identified by the Shin Bet security agency as Mohammad Taha, 21, from Qatanna, and Muthanna Amro, 20, from Qubeiba. Neither had prior arrests, according to the Shin Bet.

The two villages are adjacent to each other on the outskirts of Ramallah in the West Bank, west of the junction and over the Green Line. The Israel Defense Forces said troops were encircling the villages.

The military said troops were also dispatched to carry out scans for potential accomplices in the area alongside police.

The attackers used makeshift “Carlo” submachine guns, according to images from the scene. The improvised gun, also known as a Carl Gustav, is commonly manufactured at illegal workshops in the West Bank and has been used in numerous Palestinian attacks in the past.

Police said they had recovered the weapons, as well as a knife and ammunition.

Law enforcement officials also said the Shin Bet security agency had arrested a resident of East Jerusalem suspected of smuggling the two gunmen into Jerusalem by car. The man has had previous run-ins with law enforcement for trying to help Palestinians reside illegally in Israel, Kan news reported.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later arrived at the scene, which he surveyed alongside National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and MK Zvi Sukkot. The prime minister also entered the number 62 bus that had come under fire.

The premier offered his condolences to the families of the victims and wished a speedy recovery to the injured.

“A mighty war against terror is taking place on all fronts,” he told reporters at the scene. “We are now pursuing and encircling the villages where the terrorists came from.”

Security forces have thwarted hundreds of attacks this year, “But unfortunately, not this morning,” he said.

“The fighting continues in the Gaza Strip,” Netanyahu said, adding that Israel “will destroy Hamas as we promised and free our hostages — all of our hostages.

“Sadly, the war also continues in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria, where we have acted with great force,” he said, using the biblical term for the West Bank.

Netanyahu vowed that such terror attacks would not deter Israel. “They only increase our determination to complete our missions, in Judea and Samaria too — everywhere,” he asserted.

Ben Gvir talked up his controversial policy of putting as many licensed guns as possible in the hands of civilians in recent years to boost security on the streets. “Weapons save lives,” he argued.

Both men also praised the ultra-Orthodox soldier who returned fire at the terrorists.

Dashcam footage showed the moments of the deadly shooting attack.

As shots rang out and amid sounds of screams, people could be seen scrambling to safety between vehicles.

A taxi driver was also seen exiting his vehicle and then calmly helping his passenger, an elderly woman, get out of the back seat, even as a bullet appeared to fly over his head and shatter the windshield of a bus just behind him. The two then moved out of view unharmed.

Malka Cohen, who was on the number 62 bus when terrorists opened fire, recounted the harrowing moments of the attack.

“I was on the bus. The bus was packed,” Cohen told Channel 12. “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.”

She said she hid behind another nearby vehicle until the shooting stopped and the terrorists were neutralized.

“There was gunfire there beyond anything imaginable. I can’t believe I’m standing here. Indescribable gunfire,” she said.

Hamas praised the deadly attack, calling it a “heroic operation.”

“We affirm that this operation is a natural response to the occupation’s crimes and war of extermination it is waging against our people,” the terror group said in a statement.

Hamas did not take responsibility for the attack, but called on West Bank Palestinians to “escalate the confrontation with the occupation and its settlers.”

Netanyahu had been set to attend a scheduled hearing to testify in his criminal trial on Monday morning, but his lawyers told the court he would not be able to attend due to the terror attack. His attorney Noa Milstein told the court that “several severe security incidents at several scenes with fatalities” required Netanyahu to “participate in a series of consultations, security updates, [and] make urgent decisions.”

Netanyahu later held a situational assessment with the heads of the security establishment, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.

Ben Gvir also conducted a situational assessment with deputy police commissioner Avshalom Peled and Jerusalem District commander Amir Arzani, police said.

Police blocked Route 1 through the Arazim Tunnel to eastbound traffic, law enforcement added.

The last major terror attack in Jerusalem was in November 2023, when two Palestinian gunmen killed four people and injured five near the Givat Shaul neighborhood at the main entrance to the city.

There have also been previous terror attacks in the Ramot Junction area. On February 10, 2023, Hussein Qaraqa, an Israeli citizen and resident of the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Issawiya, rammed his car into a group of people standing at a bus stop near Ramot Junction. Six-year-old Yaakov Yisrael Paley and 20-year-old Alter Shlomo Lederman were killed on the spot, and Paley’s older brother, Asher Menahem Paley, 8, was critically hurt and died of his wounds the following day.