Two Jerusalem bomb ‘attacks’ leaves area in shock
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Raven Ruma
- . November 23, 2022
- . Update: November 24, 2022 12:49 am
Security and medical sources said that at least one person was killed and 15 others were injured in two separate explosives that targeted bus stops in Jerusalem on Wednesday. Israel’s public security minister referred to the blasts as “attacks.”
On the outskirts of the city, close to a bus stop where commuters frequently congregate while waiting for buses, the first explosion happened. The second was heard in Ramot, a district in the north of the city. The Israeli rescue agency Magen David Adom reported that four individuals were critically injured in the explosions, and the police reported that one person died from their injuries.
The alleged attacks occurred at a time when tensions between Israel and Palestine are at an all-time high, following months of Israeli incursions in the occupied West Bank that were brought on by a string of fatal attacks against Israelis that left 19 people dead. The number of attacks by the Palestinians has increased recently.
The violence also occurs as Benjamin Netanyahu, a former Israeli prime minister, is set to lead Israel’s most right-wing administration after the country’s elections and is now having coalition discussions.
Read | Netanyahu returns to power in Israel
The two places had explosive devices installed, according to the police’s first findings. Police temporarily stopped a portion of a major highway leading out of the city after the twin explosives, which happened during rush hour traffic. In a video taken not long after the initial explosion, pieces of rubble were lying all over the pavement while ambulances screamed.
Yosef Haim Gabay, a physician who was present when the initial explosion took place, told Israeli Army Radio, “A crazy explosion occurred. There is destruction everywhere here. I saw people everywhere bleeding from their wounds.”
While Palestinians have recently engaged in shootings, car rammings, and stabbings, bombing assaults have significantly decreased since the end of a Palestinian uprising almost twenty years ago.
The Gaza-based Islamic militant group Hamas, which formerly attacked Israelis with suicide bombers, congratulated the attackers and called it a valiant effort but refrained from taking responsibility for the attacks.
Abd Al-Latif Al-Qanua, a spokesman for Hamas, claimed that “the occupation is paying the price for its crimes and aggression against our people.”
Itamar Ben-Gvir, an extremist politician who has advocated for the death sentence for Palestinian attackers and who is expected to take over as Netanyahu’s minister of police, said the attack inspired him to adopt a more aggressive approach toward Palestinian terrorists. He tweeted, “It’s time to make order and take a firm approach against terrorism.”
This year, fighting between Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank and east Jerusalem has claimed the lives of over 130 Palestinians, making 2022 the bloodiest year since 2006. The majority of Palestinians slain, according to the Israeli army, were militants. But there have also been deaths among adolescents throwing stones in protest of the intrusions and unrelated individuals. In recent weeks, Palestinian violence have claimed the lives of at least five more Israelis.
