Jerusalem
CNN
,
Two explosions rocked Jerusalem early Wednesday, killing a teenager and wounding 18 others, officials said.
According to Israel’s Red Cross affiliate Magen David Adom (MDA), the first explosion occurred at 7:06 a.m. at a bus station near the entrance to Jerusalem, injuring 12 people, including a teenager who later died. The condition of three of the injured remains critical.
About half an hour later, a second explosion was reported at 7:30 am at Ramot Junction in the city, police said. Three people were evacuated with minor injuries, while four were treated for “symptoms of stress,” according to the MDA. Two Americans were also among the injured, Tom Nides, the US ambassador to Israel, said on Twitter.
A police spokesman said preliminary investigations indicated that explosive devices were planted at both the blast sites and suspects were being sought.
An Israeli police spokesman said the devices used in Wednesday’s attacks were very powerful and likely to have been detonated remotely by a “well-organised cell”. The spokesman said one device was hidden behind a wall and the other behind a bush.
The spokesman said, “The terrorists were well-known in the area.”
No group has claimed responsibility for the incident.
outgoing Prime Minister Yair Lapid said after participating in an assessment of the situation with security officials that the incident was “different from what we have seen in recent years.”
“A comprehensive intelligence effort is now underway that will help us track down these heinous terrorists, those behind them and those who provided them with the weapons,” Lapid said. “We will find them. They may run, they may hide – it will not help them; security forces will reach them. If they resist, they will be removed. If not, we will give them full punishment Will punish.
Authorities said the person killed was 15-year-old Aryeh Shchopek. The family said Shechopec was a student of a yeshiva, a Jewish religious school, and lived in the Har Nof neighborhood of Jerusalem. Shechopec also had Canadian citizenship, Israeli and Canadian officials said. Israeli emergency services previously reported that Shchechopec was 16 years old.
Lapid described Schakopek as “a guy who never did anyone wrong in the world.”
“He was murdered only because he was Jewish,” he said.
The attack brings to at least 29 people killed on the Israeli side in this year’s conflict. This year has been the deadliest for Palestinians in the West Bank since 2015. At least 146 Palestinian civilians and terrorists have been killed in 2022. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health,
At the site of the first explosion, debris is strewn on the ground and a bus with a hole in the windscreen of a parked bus is visible. The metal railing around the bus stop was also damaged and the area was cordoned off.
Two paramedics from the MDA said that when they reached the bus station, they found two seriously injured people lying on the ground.
“We were at the MDA station near the entrance of the city when we heard a huge explosion,” he said. “We immediately rushed to the scene in large numbers including ambulances, MICUs (mobile intensive care units) and medicycles.”
“Two seriously injured lay nearby, a 16-year-old at the bus stop and a 45-year-old on the pavement.”
Senior MDA paramedic Emanuel Stern said it was a “miracle” that more people were not hurt.
Stern said, “If the bus had been full of passengers, or if there had been people waiting at the bus stop, this whole incident could have ended much worse.”
Raphael Poch, a spokesman for United Hatzalah International, a volunteer medical group, told CNN that first responders saw a variety of injuries, including some from the blast. Poch said others were injured by shrapnel from damaged cars as well as nails and ball-bearings – a hallmark of “bombs that explode for terror”.
“It’s something very sad, and it’s something we haven’t seen in a very long time. And we hope it doesn’t come back to become a routine or routine situation,” Poch said. “Everyone should be able to go to work on a regular day without worrying.”
The US Embassy in Jerusalem strongly condemned “today’s terrorist attacks in public places” in a post on Twitter, while White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement that “the government and people of the United States stands with.” Israel.”
“We unequivocally condemn the terrorist acts in Jerusalem overnight,” Jean-Pierre said.