Seven people were injured, two seriously, in an armed attack on a bus early Sunday in central Jerusalem, Israeli police and paramedics said.
“
Police have been notified of a shooting at a bus near David's Tomb...the police have cordoned off the area and are looking for a suspect who fled
,” police said.
An AFP journalist noted a strong police deployment in front of this site, located near the Wailing Wall, in the Old City of Jerusalem.
The Magen David Adom, Israel's equivalent of the Red Cross, said it intervened after receiving reports of shootings at a bus in Jerusalem.
“
We arrived quickly on the scene.
On Ma'ale Hashalom street (...) passers-by stopped us to treat two men aged around 30 who were injured on the bus.
They were conscious and walked with injuries to their upper bodies
,” two MDA rescuers said in a statement relayed by this organization. “
There are a total of seven injured, all conscious, one woman and six men, including two are in serious condition during the terrorist attack in the Old City of Jerusalem
,” said Zaki Heller, spokesperson for the MDA.
Read alsoIsrael believes it has dealt a severe blow to Islamic Jihad in Gaza
By spring, 19 people -- mostly Israeli civilians inside Israel -- had been killed, mostly in attacks by Palestinians.
Three Israeli Arab attackers were also killed.
In the process, the Israeli authorities had multiplied operations in the occupied West Bank.
More than 50 Palestinians have been killed, including combatants and civilians, in operations and incidents in the West Bank.
Last week, the Israeli army carried out a "
preventive operation
" against the Islamic Jihad, an armed Islamist movement, in the Gaza Strip, which responded with salvoes of rockets against Israel.
At least 49 Palestinians, including Islamic Jihad fighters but also children, died in this weekend of military escalation which ended last Sunday with a truce favored by the mediation of Egypt.