Middle East

Eight Israelis injured in shooting attack in Jerusalem’s Old City

Gunman opens fire at bus waiting near the Western Wall holy site

Israeli security inspect a bus after an attack outside Jerusalem's Old City on August 14th, 2022. Photograph: AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images
Israeli security inspect a bus after an attack outside Jerusalem's Old City on August 14th, 2022. Photograph: AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images
Sun Aug 14 2022 - 08:15

A gunman opened fire at a bus near Jerusalem’s Old City, wounding eight Israelis in a suspected Palestinian attack, police said.

Two of the victims were in serious condition, including a pregnant woman with abdominal injuries and a man with gunshot wounds to the head and neck, according to Israeli hospitals treating them.

The shooting on Sunday occurred as the bus waited in a parking area near the Western Wall, which is considered the holiest site where Jews can pray. It comes a week after violence flared up between Israel and militants in Gaza

Israeli police said forces were sent to the scene to investigate. Israeli security forces also pushed into the nearby Palestinian neighbourhood of Silwan pursuing the suspected attacker.

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The attack in Jerusalem followed a tense week between Israel and Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.

Last weekend, Israeli aircraft unleashed an offensive in the Gaza Strip targeting the militant group Islamic Jihad and setting off three days of fierce cross-border fighting.

Islamic Jihad fired hundreds of rockets during the flare-up to avenge the airstrikes, which killed two of its commanders and other militants.

Israel said the attack was meant to thwart threats from the group to respond to the arrest of one of its officials in the occupied West Bank.

Forty-nine Palestinians, including 17 children and 14 militants, were killed, and several hundred were injured in the fighting, which ended with an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire.

The Islamic militant group Hamas, which controls Gaza, stayed on the sidelines.

A day after the ceasefire halted the worst round of Gaza fighting in more than a year, Israeli troops killed three Palestinian militants and wounded dozens in a shootout that erupted during an arrest raid in the West Bank city of Nablus. — AP