Jerusalem woke up with a double attack, with two package bombs placed in bus stations in the city. The first exploded shortly after seven in the morning and left 12 injured, four of them in serious condition. The hospital certified the death of one of them. The other explosion occurred half an hour later at a road junction, but was controlled by the police, who arrived on time and managed to register only three minor injuries.
The double blast takes Israelis back to the bloody years of the Second Intifada, when suicide bus attacks were common. Faced with the confusion and panic unleashed in the holy city, the police tried to clarify whether the package bombs were activated remotely, or were placed at the moment. In the second case, it is speculated that the explosive was placed on a bicycle.
“I was stopped at the traffic light at the intersection entering the city, and the explosion occurred. I ran in the direction of the place and there was a huge destruction. It was a tremendous bombing and there is damage everywhere”, explained Yossef Haim. The blast, which claimed one life, occurred in an area inhabited mainly by ultra-Orthodox Jews.
Kobi Shabtai, chief of police, stressed at the scene of the second explosion that they are "facing a scenario that we have not seen for many years, with two consecutive explosions." All the efforts of the security forces were focused on preventing another eventual attack. “We inspect every bus. It could be a single attacker who set off both bombs, or it could be two people,” he commented.
While canine units and police officers were deployed at road junctions and public transport, citizens were required to remain on high alert. The next prime minister, Beniamin Netanyahu, echoed on his social networks: "I pray for the recovery of those injured in the attacks on Jerusalem, and I send support to the security forces operating on the ground."
The deputy Itamar Ben Gvir, who will soon occupy a relevant ministry, was one of the first to go to the place. “Attacks in Ariel, Kiryat Arba, and today Jerusalem, just by a miracle we did not count dozens of deaths. We must go back to targeted killings to stop terrorism,” he demanded. Religious Zionism's number two also called for “tightening prison conditions, stopping Palestinian Authority payments to murderers of Jews, and imposing total closures on terrorist towns. "You have to return the intimidation."
As usual, the Palestinian armed groups celebrated the attack, although no faction claimed responsibility for it. Hamas considered it a consequence of Israel's actions in the Al-Aqsa mosque: "The message in the face of the occupation is that the Palestinian people follow the path of resistance." From the Islamic Jihad they defined it as "a message to the leaders of the Israeli right, Ben Gvir and Smotrich, that we will not remain silent in the face of Israeli aggression."
The indications point to a cell originating from East Jerusalem, since it is difficult to introduce bombs across the wall from the West Bank. Investigators are trying to find out who financed and arranged the logistics of the double attack.
On Tuesday night, Israeli Tiran Ferro – 18 years old and from a Druze village – died in a traffic accident while driving with relatives near the Palestinian city of Jenin. While he was fighting for his life in a local hospital, some thirty hooded armed men, apparently affiliated with Islamic Jihad, kidnapped his body. It is not clear if the young man was already dead, or was taken away in critical condition. In the ongoing negotiations, the militiamen are demanding the release of prisoners and the dead bodies of Palestinians in order to return the body of the young Israeli. In Nablus, Ahmad Shehadeh (16 years old), was killed by Israeli fire during clashes with armed militants.
