New terror in Jerusalem: At a bus stop, a car drives into those waiting, two people die. The suspected assassin is also killed. The government now wants to demolish his house.
A Palestinian gunman drove into a crowd at a bus stop in east Jerusalem, killing at least two people. Among them was a six-year-old child, the Israeli police said on Friday.
The second dead is a 20-year-old man. At least five people were injured. Paramedics reported shocking scenes at the scene near an Israeli settlement. The assassin – a 31-year-old Palestinian – was killed, according to the police.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the man’s house to be sealed immediately and then torn down. In addition, units in the area had been strengthened to “immediately carry out investigations and arrests in the area surrounding the terrorist,” his office said. At least ten members of his family were arrested. Israel’s new right-wing government is taking tougher action against assassins than previous cabinets.
The far-right police minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, also ordered the police to prepare for a repeat of the military operation “Shield” in East Jerusalem. Israel responded to a series of bloody attacks in the West Bank in 2002 with this large-scale operation. In the past, after terrorist attacks, there were repeated calls for a new edition. Ben-Gvir also called for a law on the death penalty for terrorists to be passed as soon as possible.
Jerusalem has repeatedly been the scene of serious attacks in recent years. Most recently, two weeks ago, a Palestinian assassin shot dead six Israelis and a Ukrainian at a synagogue in East Jerusalem – the attack with the highest number of fatalities since 2008.
Conflict escalated again
“Our hearts ache after the heinous terrorist attack in Jerusalem just before Shabbat,” President Izchak Herzog wrote on Twitter. In the Gaza Strip, on the other hand, the attack was celebrated over loudspeakers from mosques. A spokesman for Hamas, the ruling party there, described it as a “natural reaction to all of the occupation’s crimes against the Palestinian people.” He referred to a raid by the Israeli army in the city of Jericho in which five members of the Islamist Palestinian organization were killed. The Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip praised the attack as “heroic”.
Meanwhile, Israel’s Defense Minister Joav Gallant announced financial sanctions against 87 residents of East Jerusalem said to be linked to terrorist activities. Accordingly, money is to be confiscated that was paid by the Palestinian Authority to Palestinians imprisoned in Israel and their families.
Israel’s government — the farthest right the country has ever had — has been in office for only about six weeks. Since then, the conflict with the Palestinians has once again dangerously escalated. However, the wave of violence had already begun earlier with a series of attacks. Since then, the Israeli army has been conducting raids in the West Bank almost daily. There are always confrontations. More than 40 Palestinians have been killed in clashes this year alone.
Israel conquered the West Bank and East Jerusalem in 1967. More than 600,000 Israeli settlers live there today. The Palestinians claim the territories for an independent state of Palestine with the Arab-influenced eastern part of Jerusalem as the capital.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
