AL-QUDS (Dispatches) -- At least Zionist Israeli settlers were injured, three critically, after an armed attacker opened fire on a bus and at other locations in the occupied city of Al-Quds.
Early reports by Zionist media indicated that there were two attacks at two separate neighborhoods of the occupied Al-Quds.
They said shots were fired toward a bus on a road near the Western Wall, and also at a parking lot outside one of the gates of the Old City of Al-Quds.
Hours later, Israel’s Channel 12 reported that the operation was a complex one and took place at three separate places, as it targeted an Israeli bus, then a vehicle, and finally pedestrian settlers.
The occupying regime’s Kan news network said the operation was carried out by a single gunman who fired 10 shots within 10-15 seconds, targeting a bus and two vehicles and withdrew from the scene.
The report noted that following the shooting, the regime’s forces prevented all settlers from exiting through the Al-Buraq Wall in Al-Quds.
Palestinian sources said a large number of Israeli forces stormed the Silwan neighborhood of Al-Quds, searching for the attacker.
Israeli drones also flew drones over Silwan neighborhood in search of the attacker. The occupying regime’s police later said they arrested a suspect.
Hamas reacted to the Al-Quds operation, describing it as a natural reaction by Palestinians to acts of aggression committed by Zionist settlers and their daily crimes against “our people, our land, and our sacred places.”
Hamas spokesperson Fawzi Barhum said, “The occupiers’ suppressive measures and intensification of security measures against our people in Al-Quds will not weaken their resolve.”
“This heroic and unique operation shows that the resistance front will press ahead with its measures in Al-Quds. Our nation knows very well that resistance is the only way to safeguard the Palestinian land and holy places, and can inflict enormous costs on the invaders and thwart their plots.”
Tariq Izz al-Din, a spokesperson for Islamic Jihad’s West Bank branch, also lauded the operation, calling it “in line with the ongoing resistance against the occupying regime”.
“The Al-Quds operation showed that occupiers have no place in our land and will not feel safe as long as the resistance continues. The occupying regime kills our people on a daily basis, and must pay the price for its crimes against our nation, which are being perpetrated from Gaza to Jenin and Nablus,”
Izz al-Din said.
“The heroic operation was carried out in the heart of the occupied al-Quds. It is a concrete proof that the city will maintain its Islamic, Arab and Palestinian identity, and all Judaization attempts and crimes of the Zionist regime will not change the fact that it belongs to Palestinians.”
The shooting came a week after Israeli forces martyred 49 people in the besieged Gaza Strip, including 17 children.
The Zionist violence ended after Egypt intervened on Israel’s behalf to negotiate a truce between Islamic Jihad fighters in Gaza and the occupying regime.
“This operation took place at the right time and place and in the aftermath of the recent aggression of the Zionist regime on the Gaza Strip. It is the first reaction of our nation in the West Bank and Al-Quds, and falls within the framework of the ‘Unity of Fronts and Fields’ equation,” Izz al-Din said.
Spokesman for the Palestinian Resistance Committees (PRC), Muhammad al-Barim, said the operation is “a stinging blow to the military and security apparatus of the Zionist regime”.
“The brave and heroic operation in Al-Quds conveys the message to the enemy that the Palestinian nation and resistance fighters will continue to tread the path of struggle decisively,” he said.
As many as 74 Palestinians, including 37 Palestinian children, have been martyred so far this year, many as a result of the use of lethal force by Zionist authorities in a manner described by the UN Human Rights Office in the Occupied Territories as a violation of international human rights law.
Speaking on Thursday, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet condemned the widespread use of live ammunition by the Israeli forces during operations across the occupied West Bank, including East Al-Quds, that had “led to an alarming increase in Palestinian fatalities.”