Hamas is calling for Palestinians across Judea and Samaria to “escalate the confrontation,” stating that the intentional murder of civilians is “a natural response to the occupation’s crimes.”
Six Israelis were murdered and a dozen more wounded in a mass-shooting attack by Palestinian terrorists in the northern Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramot on Monday morning.
The slain victims were identified as Yosef David, 43, from Jerusalem; Sarah Mendelson, 60, from Jerusalem; Israel Mentzer, 28, from Jerusalem; Levi Yitzhak Pash, 57, from Tel Zion; Yaakov Pinto, 25, from Jerusalem; and Mordechai Steintzeg, 79, from Jerusalem. The Magen David Adom response group transferred seven other seriously wounded people to hospitals in Jerusalem. Two others were moderately injured, and three sustained light wounds.
Two terrorists were killed at the scene by an Israel Defense Forces soldier and an armed civilian. The soldier was identified in reports as a squad commander in the IDF’s ultra-Orthodox Hasmonean Brigade.
The Hamas terrorist organization in a statement praised “the heroic and unique operation” carried out by “two Palestinian resistance fighters,” calling the murders “a natural response to the occupation’s crimes.”
Nadav Taib, a paramedic with Magen David Adom, said in a statement shared by the organization that he “arrived at the location with large forces immediately after receiving the report of people wounded by gunfire.
“We saw people lying on the road, unconscious, on the side of the road and the sidewalk near a bus stop. There was widespread destruction at the scene, shattered glass on the ground and commotion,” he said.
Magen David Adom “provided medical treatment to the wounded and continues to treat and evacuate them to hospitals,” the paramedic said.
Israel Police spokesman Aryeh Doron told reporters that the incident was still ongoing some 30 minutes after the initial report. Security forces were said to be investigating a suspicious object at the scene, per Ynet.
The news outlet reported that the IDF ordered the closure of security checkpoints between Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria pending a situational assessment at Central Command headquarters in the capital’s north.
“Following the shooting attack at the Ramot Junction earlier today, IDF soldiers were dispatched to the area and are conducting searches for suspects in cooperation with the Israel Police,” the military said.
Israeli forces were said to be “encircling several villages on the outskirts of Ramallah to thwart terrorism, carrying out questioning and searches in the area, and reinforcing defensive efforts along the security barrier.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also convened a situational assessment with the heads of the defense establishment, his office said.
According to Channel 12 News, Israel’s security agencies believe that the terrorists arrived by car from a village in the Ramallah area of Samaria. They reportedly used locally produced “Carlo-style” submachine guns.
Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) agents detained a resident of eastern Jerusalem on suspicion of helping aiding the terrorist attack, the Israel Police announced on Monday afternoon.
The Shin Bet thwarted more than a thousand major Palestinian terrorist attacks in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria in 2024, according to the agency’s annual report published in late December.
The majority of the 1,040 foiled terror attacks involved firearms (689) and explosive devices (326), with the others being stabbings, car-rammings, suicide bombings and abductions, the agency said.