of the attacks with explosives in Jerusalem they left this wednesday a dead minor and at least 22 injured, the first such attack in years, putting Israel on high alert as the authorities suspect that it was a combined attack.
Early in the morning, a first explosion rocked a bus stop at one of the entrances to Jerusalem, followed by another explosion, half an hour later, at another public transport stop at a crossroads in the Jewish colony of Ramot, in Occupied East Jerusalem. Both explosions were triggered in a similar way: the explosive devices, which also contained nails, were placed in the bus stations inside bags and later they would have been detonated by remote control.
According to the police, it could be a combined attack that was planned and executed in detail. The first detonation was the most serious since a sixteen-year-old boy died after being taken to the hospital. In the second explosion, which occurred thirty minutes after the first, there were no fatalities. Between the two events, 22 people were injured and three of them were in critical condition.
Attacks with explosive devices in public spaces and against civilians have not been common in Jerusalem for years. The last one was in 2016although attacks of this nature are more associated with the period of the Second Intifadathe wave of violence that took place between 2000 and 2005, when bomb attacks by Palestinian groups became a constant reality of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
No Palestinian faction claimed responsibility for the attack on Wednesday, although the Islamist movement Hamas and Islamic Jihad did celebrate it and they assumed that their authors are Palestinians. “We congratulate our Palestinian people and our people in the occupied city of Jerusalem for the heroic operation,” Hamas said in a statement, where it considered that the attack is the result of the crimes of the Israeli occupation and the settlers.
alert status
Israeli security forces went on alert throughout the country and especially in Jerusalem, where They cut several access roads to the city. They also deployed reinforcements and are conducting extensive ground and air searches, as they believe that the suspects could still be in or around the city.
Meanwhile, the outgoing prime minister, Yair Lapid, called an emergency meeting to discuss the situation. On the other hand, ambassadors of countries of the international community in Israel and other international representatives condemned the attack, among them Tor Wennesland, United Nations Special Envoy for the Middle East Peace Process.
“I condemn today’s horrific terrorist attacks in Jerusalem that killed a 16-year-old Israeli boy and injured many others. My condolences to the victim’s family,” Wennesland said on Twitter, noting that terrorism and violence against civilians can never be justified.
According to the prime minister’s office, the person killed in the first attack was Aryeh Schupak, 16 years old. “It is with great sadness that I have learned of the death of a young Canadian in a terrorist attack in Jerusalem, and I send my sincere condolences to his family and friends. My thoughts are also with those injured. Canada condemns this violence in the strongest terms.” , declared the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau.
also reacted Embassy of Canada in Israelwho expressed his condolences to the family of the deceased, a student of Yeshiva, a Jewish religious school, with dual Israeli-Canadian citizenship.
Attack in the middle of the transfer of government
The attack on Wednesday occurs while Benjamin Netanyahu, winner of the November 1 elections, continues to negotiate to form a government with his far-right and ultra-Orthodox partners, in talks hampered by disputes over control of various ministries. “The murderous Arab terror is knocking at our door, we must form a government immediately to restore the security of the citizens of Israel,” insisted the far-right Bezalel Smotrichleader of Religious Zionist Party.
Likewise, the supremacist and anti-Arab leader Itamar Ben Gvir, a figure with rising popularity in Israel and to whom Netanyahu is expected to hand over the Public Security portfolio, went to the scene of the attacks and appealed for more forceful action. “It’s time to take a strong hand against terroristsIt’s time to put order. It is time to establish a right-wing government as soon as possible, terrorism does not wait,” Ben Gvir urged on Twitter.
All this occurs after more than six months of strong tension in the framework of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, with attacks by Palestinians and bloody raids by the Israeli Army. In so far this year, 148 Palestinians were killed in violent incidents in the West Bank and Israel, making 2022 the deadliest year since 2006. On the Israeli side, 28 people died. In turn, the Israeli Internal Security service (Shin Bet) assured the press this Wednesday that this 2022 it has prevented more than 300 attacks, 34 of them with explosives and two attempted suicide attacks.