The perpetrator of the armed attack that targeted a bus in central Jerusalem, at dawn on Sunday, surrendered to the Israeli authorities after a search operation that lasted for hours.
On Sunday, the Israeli police announced the arrest of the suspect in the attack, after a chase that lasted for hours. Police said in a statement that the suspect turned himself in with the gun that appeared to have been used in the shooting.
Before the police announcement, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid vowed that the manhunt would continue until the suspect was arrested. "Let all those who wish us evil know that they will pay the price for any harm caused to civilians," he said in a statement.
In turn, Defense Minister Benny Gantz said, "The Jerusalem operation is dangerous, and the security forces are cooperating to arrest the perpetrator and his aides."
Eight people were injured, two of them seriously, as a result of this armed attack in Jerusalem, according to the Israeli police and paramedics.
The police said that they were informed of "a shooting on a bus near David's grave... Police officers cordoned off the place and were looking for a suspect who escaped," while paramedics reported that there were seven wounded, two of whom are in critical condition.
An AFP journalist noted a heavy police presence in front of the site near the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem.
Magen David Adom, the medical aid organization in Israel, said it intervened after receiving reports of a shooting on a bus in Jerusalem.
Magen David Adom spokesman Zaki Heller stated that "there are a total of seven wounded", including "a woman and six men", noting that the condition of two of them is critical.
Two paramedics working for the organization said, "We arrived quickly. On Ma'ale Hashalom Street... we stopped pedestrians to treat two men, about 30 years old, who had been injured on the bus. They were conscious and walking with injuries to the upper body."
Panic
The bus driver, Daniel Kanievsky, told a small group of journalists at the site, including an AFP reporter, "I was returning from the Western Wall. The bus was full of passengers. I stopped at the bus stop at David's tomb. At that moment, the shooting started." .
"I saw two people on the bus were bleeding. Everyone was terrified," he added, standing in front of the bullet-ridden bus.
Last week, the Israeli army launched a "preemptive operation" in the Gaza Strip against the Islamic Jihad movement, which responded by firing a batch of rockets towards Israel.
At least 49 Palestinians, including Islamic Jihad fighters and children, were killed as a result of this military escalation, which continued until a ceasefire came into effect.
This ceasefire was reached on Sunday evening with Egyptian mediation, which allowed, on Monday, the reopening of the crossings between Israel and the Gaza Strip, which has been under an Israeli blockade for more than 15 years.
In the spring, 19 people, the majority of them Israeli civilians, were killed inside Israel, most of them in attacks by Palestinians. Three Arab attackers were also killed in Israel.
Subsequently, the Israeli authorities intensified their operations in the occupied West Bank. More than 50 Palestinians have been killed since late March, including suspected armed men and civilians, in operations and incidents in the West Bank.
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