Five wounded in shooting on Israeli bus in West Bank

Palestinian demonstrators hide against the wall of a house during clashes with Israeli security forces, following a protest against the expropriation of Palestinian land by Israel, in the occupied West Bank village of Kfar Qaddum near the Jewish settlement of Kedumim, on September 2, 2022. (Photo by JAAFAR ASHTIYEH / AFP)

Jerusalem (AFP)

Five people were wounded on Sunday in a shooting attack on an Israeli bus in the occupied West Bank, medics said.

“We saw two gunshot victims outside of the bus who were being treated by IDF (Israeli military) medics and other people who were at the scene,” said paramedic Matti Carmi, from the Magen David Adom emergency medical services.

Those shot in the northern West Bank incident were both conscious and were airlifted to Rambam hospital, in the Israeli city of Haifa.

Three others were hit with glass fragments and subsequently transferred by road to another hospital in northern Israel, MDA said.

A photograph published by a union representing bus drivers showed the vehicle’s windscreen peppered with bullet holes.

Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz said security forces “immediately went in pursuit and got their hands on suspects in the attack”.

Sunday’s incident follows a shooting spree last month targeting an Israeli bus in occupied east Jerusalem.

Eight people, including several American citizens, were wounded in that pre-dawn attack near the Old City of Jerusalem.

Following an hours-long manhunt, police said a suspect had handed himself in.

Israel has controlled east Jerusalem and the West Bank since the 1967 Six-Day War, when it seized the territories from Jordan.