Gunman opens fire on Jerusalem bus near holy Western Wall, 8 Israelis injured
Sunday, 14 August 2022 (14:35 IST)
At least eight people were wounded after an assailant opened fire on a bus in Jerusalem's Old City early Sunday, Israeli police and medics said.
Israel's emergency medical services, the Magen David Adom (MDA), labeled the incident a "terror attack." MDA spokesperson Zaki Heller said six men and one woman were injured in the attack but that all seven were "fully conscious."
All of the wounded were taken to nearby hospitals. Two of the victims were in serious condition, according to Israeli medical officials.
The shooting occurred as the bus waited in a parking lot near Jerusalem's Western Wall, a Jewish holy site and a place of prayer.
"I was coming from the Western Wall. The bus was full of passengers," bus driver Daniel Kanievsky told reporters in front of his bullet-riddled vehicle.
"I stopped at the station of the Tomb of David. At this moment, the shooting started. Two people outside I see falling, two inside were bleeding. Everybody panicked," he said.
Israeli police said forces were dispatched to the scene to investigate. Israeli security forces also pushed into the nearby Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan pursuing the suspected attacker.
The shooting comes about a week after a three-day conflict between Israel and Islamic Jihad militants in the densely populated Palestinian enclave of Gaza.
At least 49 Palestinians, including Islamic Jihad fighters and also children, died in the violence, which ended last Sunday after Egypt negotiated a truce.
The Islamic militant group Hamas, which controls Gaza, stayed on the sidelines.