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A gunman opened fire on a bus near Jerusalem’s Old City early Sunday, wounding eight Israelis in a suspected Palestinian attack, police and medics said.
Two of the victims were in serious condition, including a pregnant woman with abdominal injuries and a man with gunshot wounds to the head and neck, according to the Israeli hospital that treated them.
The shooting occurred while the bus was waiting in a parking lot near the Western Wall, considered the holiest place where Jews can pray.
Israeli police said they had sent troops to the scene to investigate. Israeli security forces also advanced into the nearby Palestinian neighbourhood of Silwan in pursuit of the suspected attacker.
Also read: Israeli and Palestinian militants declare truce in Gaza
The Jerusalem attack comes after a tense week between Israel and Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
Over the weekend, Israeli planes launched an offensive against the militant group Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip, sparking three days of intense cross-border fighting. Islamic Jihad fired hundreds of rockets during the outbreak in retaliation for airstrikes that killed two commanders and other militants. Israel said the attack was aimed at thwarting the group’s threats in response to the arrest of an official in the occupied West Bank.
Forty-nine Palestinians, including 17 children and 14 militants, were killed and hundreds wounded in the fighting, which ended in an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire. No Israelis were killed or seriously injured.
Also read: Over 150 injured in Jerusalem clashes as religious festivals overlap
Hamas, the Islamist militant group that controls the Gaza Strip, remains on the sidelines.
Three Palestinian militants have been killed by Israeli forces in a shootout that erupted during an arrest raid in the West Bank city of Nablus, a day after a ceasefire ended the worst round of Gaza fighting in more than a year. Dozens of people were injured.
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