At least five Israelis were killed in a shooting attack in Jerusalem on Monday morning, the deadliest such incident in nearly a year inside the country amid escalating tensions in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Witnesses reported that two gunmen opened fire at a bus at an intersection in the north of the city before being shot dead by a nearby Israeli combat soldier and another armed passer-by.
First responders said that in addition to the fatalities, 11 more people had been injured in the attack, including six seriously.
Israeli security officials said the gunmen were Palestinians in their 20s from villages near Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli military said that forces were "encircling several areas on the outskirts of Ramallah" and working with police to search for additional suspects.
The attack was the deadliest inside Israel since two Palestinians opened fire at a light rail train station in Jaffa near Tel Aviv in October 2024, killing seven people. A similar shooting attack at a busy Jerusalem junction by two Palestinian militants killed three Israelis in November 2023.
A police spokesperson said that the investigation into Monday's incident was ongoing, including how the two assailants were able to enter Jerusalem from the West Bank.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the scene of the attack and said he was holding consultations with his security chiefs. The premier's testimony in his long-running corruption trial, scheduled for Monday morning, was cancelled.
Hamas, the Palestinian militant group engaged in a 23-month war with Israel after its October 7 2023 cross-border assault from Gaza, praised the Jerusalem attack as a "heroic operation" and "natural response" to Israeli aggression.
The group called on the wider Palestinian public in the West Bank to "escalate confrontations" with Israeli forces and settlers.
The Jerusalem attack comes as Israel expands settlement construction and forced evictions of Palestinians from land across the West Bank, with far-right ministers in the Netanyahu government openly planning for the annexation of the territory.
The war in Gaza, which is nearing its two-year mark, has escalated in recent days as the Israeli military embarks on a controversial offensive into Gaza City, the shattered enclave's capital and largest city.
Israeli air strikes targeted several high-rise buildings in the city over the weekend, with a full ground assault now looming.
Prior to the shooting attack, Israeli defence minister Israel Katz wrote on social media platform X on Monday that: "Today, a powerful hurricane will strike the skies of Gaza City, and the roofs of the terror towers will shake."
"This is a final warning to the murderers and rapists of Hamas in Gaza and in luxury hotels abroad: Release the hostages and lay down your weapons -- or Gaza will be destroyed, and you will be annihilated," Katz said.