Five killed, 12 injured as gunmen open fire on bus in Jerusalem, Hamas praises ‘heroic operation’

Israeli security forces gather by a body next to a bus at the scene of a shooting at the Ramot road junction in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem on September 8, 2025. (AFP)

At least five people were killed and 12 others were injured in a shooting attack on the outskirts of Jerusalem on Thursday, which Israeli police have attributed to a terror attack. Officials said the perpetrators were neutralised at the scene.

The incident occurred at Ramot Junction on Yigal Yadin Street in Jerusalem. Israel’s Channel 12 reported that terrorists apparently boarded a bus and opened fire on passengers. According to initial reports, at least six people are listed in serious condition, two are in moderate condition, and three have sustained minor injuries.

Emergency service and medical teams “pronounced the deaths of four victims, including a man about 50 years old and three men aged around 30", AFP quoted a statement from Magen David Adom. A fifth victim died on the way to the hospital.

Video footage from the scene showed dozens of people running from a bus stop at a busy intersection during the morning rush hour. Paramedics arriving at the scene described a chaotic situation, with shattered glass scattered across the area and several injured individuals lying unconscious on the road and sidewalk near the bus stop.

The two attackers were shot and killed by a soldier and an armed civilian at the scene. Security officials told The Times of Israel that the suspected terrorists were West Bank Palestinians believed to have set out from villages in the Ramallah area.

Following the attack, paramedics and ambulance crews provided medical treatment and evacuated five “seriously wounded people" who had been sent to hospitals in Jerusalem. “Several other victims, with varying degrees of injury, are also being treated at the scene," the statement added.

Hamas praises ‘heroic’ operation

Hamas praised the attack in Jerusalem as a “heroic operation", although it did not claim responsibility for the attack, according to The Times of Israel. “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 group said in a statement.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened an assessment of the situation with the heads of the security establishment following the attack, according to an update shared by his office. The Israeli military said it is encircling Palestinian villages on the outskirts of the nearby West Bank city of Ramallah as it steps up defense in response to the attack.

Officials said the terrorists used a makeshift “Carlo" submachine gun, otherwise called Carl Gustav, which has been used in numerous Palestinian attacks in the past.

It was not immediately clear who carried out the shooting or what the motive was. However, the attack came immediately after Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, gave a final warning to Hamas to either drop arms and release all hostages or face “annihilation".

The warnings came as the Israeli military intensified its bombings and operations around Gaza City, which it has vowed to capture in a bid to finally defeat Hamas after nearly two years of devastating conflict.

Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 64,368 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Gaza.