JERUSALEM, Israel – Less than a week after Israel concluded its Operation Breaking Dawn against the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip, an Arab-Israeli man opened fire on a bus near Jerusalem’s Old City, wounding eight, including five Americans.
Terror groups welcomed the attack and called it a “heroic operation” that proved Israel didn’t have the victory in the Gaza operation.
“It is an affirmation that the illusory victory that (Prime Minister Yair Lapid) and (Defense Minister Benny Gantz) had marketed to his people and Israeli society was squandered in this heroic and brave operation, which is a blow to the Zionist security system,” said Fawzi Barhoum, a spokesman for the Hamas terror group.
The attack took place near this bus stop around 1:00 in the morning, just outside Jerusalem’s Old City walls at a place called David’s Tomb, where many people pray. The attacker fired on a bus full of people, wounding those who were at the bus stop as well as those inside the bus.
Despite praise from terror groups, the attacker, Amir Sidawi, is a Jerusalem resident with a criminal background but doesn’t belong to any terror group. He surrendered to the police hours after the attack.
Still, Hamas claimed it as a victory and called for more attacks.
“This operation confirms that the Palestinian people continue on the path of resistance and all the tools of struggle and resistance against this occupation are to protect our people, our land and our holy sites,” said Barhoum.
US Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides confirmed that Americans were wounded in the attack. All the wounded are recovering.
“There is one conclusion from this event, as from previous events: whoever harms the citizens of Israel will have nowhere to run. We will hunt them down and get them everywhere and we will deal with them with the full severity of the law,” said Lapid.
Lapid said the city would be reinforced with police and emphasized that Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, is “safe, open, strong and welcoming to tourists and residents.”
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