No fewer than five people were killed in a shooting attack at a bus stop in Jerusalem on Monday, according to paramedics.

The Israeli emergency medical service Magen David Adom reported that four victims were pronounced dead at the scene in north Jerusalem, while one died of her injuries later in the hospital.

Twelve other wounded people were taken to the hospital, seven of them with serious injuries.

Police said, “Two terrorists arrived by vehicle at the Ramot Junction in Jerusalem and opened fire toward a bus stop.

“A security officer and a civilian at the scene responded immediately, returned fire, and neutralised the attackers.”

The Zaka rescue service confirmed that the suspected Palestinian attackers had been killed.

A security guard from a nearby bus station said that two armed men entered a bus at an intersection and fired shots.

He said the bus was “riddled with holes”.

One of the attackers was also carrying a knife, he said.

According to eyewitnesses, military roadblocks stopping traffic were put in place between Jerusalem and Ramallah in the occupied West Bank after the attack.

The situation in the Middle East has been extremely tense since the start of the Gaza War almost two years ago, and there have been repeated attacks by Palestinians on Israelis in that time.

The war has left the Palestinian coastal territory largely in ruins and tens of thousands of Gazans dead.

The war was triggered by the October 7, 2023, terrorist attack by Palestinian militants on southern Israeli communities, which killed some 1,200 people.

(dpa/NAN)