Terror strikes Jerusalem with attack that leaves six dead, including a young Spanish man

Terror struck occupied Jerusalem on Monday with an attack by two Palestinian youths who shot dead six people and wounded more than 20 at a bus stop. Among the dead was 25-year-old Yaakov Pinto, a resident of Melilla in Spain. The attackers were shot dead by an ultra-orthodox military officer and armed civilians at the Ramot bus stop, a junction frequented by settlers living in the eastern part of the city, many of them religious. Benjamin Netanyahu and national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir visited the scene of the attack and called for revenge.

Pinto was part of Melilla's historic Jewish community, who are descendants of families who began settling there in the late 19th century and are mainly involved in trade. Israeli media reported that he had decided to emigrate to Israel, where he had recently married and was studying at the Derech Emunah religious school in Lod.

His community in the Ramot colony said in a statement, "His future was cruelly cut short. Our hearts go out to his young wife, his family and his community at this difficult time."

The army launched an operation around Ramallah to surround the homes of the two Palestinians. They are well aware of the collective punishment that awaits them after such a deadly attack. The military enters villages, blocks roads, closes checkpoints, arrests relatives and friends and will even demolish the homes of the perpetrators.

Almost two years later, Jerusalem was again the scene of what the police described as a "terrorist attack". In November 2023, one month after the Hamas attack of 7 October, two more Palestinians shot dead four people in the Givat Shaul neighbourhood. Now, as it did two years ago, Hamas considers what happened a "heroic operation". The Islamists did not claim responsibility and explained in a statement that it was "a natural response to the crimes of the occupation and its war of extermination against our people".

Hamas urged Palestinians to intensify confrontation with settlers in the occupied territories, where violence has soared over the past 23 months and settlers and the military have killed more than 1,000 Palestinians and injured 7,000, according to the Palestinian information centre. The West Bank is a pressure cooker because of the steady advance of the occupation and the annexation plan that the Israeli government has put on the table.

Netanyahu climbed inside the bus, which dozens of people were trying to board at the time of the attack. The prime minister told the media that "a fierce war against terrorism is being waged on all fronts". "We are hunting down and encircling the villages where the terrorists came from."

The Shin Bet identified the perpetrators as Mohammad Taha, 21, from Qatanna, and Muthanna Amro, 20, from Qubeiba. These two towns are very close to Ramallah. The youths managed to get over the separation wall in the morning and sneak onto Israeli soil to shoot at the people waiting for the bus at a busy time.

Ben Gvir applauded the "heroic response" of the ultra-orthodox military and civilians who opened fire on the two Palestinians. The head of national security took to his X social media profile to recall in a message that "guns save lives: we must remember that". "I call on the citizens of Israel: go and arm yourselves." This is one of the maxims defended by the ultra-nationalist leader since his arrival in government.

The presidency of the Palestinian national authority (PNA) "reiterated its firm position of rejection and condemnation" of any attacks on Palestinian and Israeli civilians and made clear that they denounce "all forms of violence and terrorism, regardless of their origin". In the PNA's view, "security and stability in the region will not be achieved without ending the occupation, stopping acts of genocide in Gaza and stopping settler terrorism in the West Bank, including in occupied Jerusalem".

The United Arab Emirates, a signatory to the Abraham Accords and which last week called the annexation of the West Bank a "red line", also joined in condemning the "terrorist shooting". The Emiratis expressed their "continued rejection of all forms of violence and terrorism aimed at undermining security and stability". The UAE's statement on annexation as a threat to maintaining normalisation of relations with Israel prompted Netanyahu to lower the profile of statements about his intentions to extend sovereignty over the territories they call Judea and Samaria, after their biblical names.