(Jerusalem) – Authorities say that two explosions early Wednesday morning may have been a “combined terror attack” that killed a child and hurt 18.
At 7:06 a.m., the first explosion happened at a bus station near the entrance to Jerusalem. It hurt 12 people, including the teen who died. Three were in very bad shape.
At 7:30 a.m., the police heard about a second explosion at the Ramot crossroads. MDA said that there were three minor injuries and four signs of stress. US Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides wrote on Twitter that two US citizens had been hurt.
At both blast sites, police have found explosives and are looking for the people who set them off. A police official said that the bombs that went off on Wednesday were strong and likely set off from a distance by a “well-organized cell.”
A spokeswoman said that one device was hidden behind a wall and another was hidden under a bush. The statement said that terrorists are familiar with the area.
No one group is to blame. Former Prime Minister Yair Lapid said that what happened was “different from what has happened in recent years.”
Lapid: “There is a big intelligence operation going on to find out who is behind these horrible terrorists and who gave them weapons.” People will find them. Even if they run away or hide, security will find them. If you fight back, you will be killed. If they don’t, we’ll punish them badly.”
Officials say that Aryeh Shechopek, who was 15, was killed. Shechopek’s family said that he went to a yeshiva in the Har Nof neighborhood of Jerusalem. Shechopek was said to be Canadian by both Israeli and Canadian police. Shechopek was 16, according to the Israeli rescue services.
Lapid said that Shechopek was “a boy who never did anyone wrong.” He said, “He died because he was a Jew.”
At least 29 Israelis have died this year because of the attack. The West Bank is having its worst year since 2015. In 2022, 146 people, both civilians, and militants were killed there, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
Photos taken at the site of the first explosion showed rubble and a bus with holes in its windshield. The bus station was closed off and had broken metal railings around it.
At the bus stop, MDA paramedics found two people who were badly hurt. When they heard the blast, they were at the MDA station at the city’s entrance. There were a lot of ambulances, MICUs, and media cycles at the scene.
Two people were seriously hurt: a 16-year-old at the bus stop and a 45-year-old on the sidewalk. Senior MDA paramedic Emanuel Stern said it was a “miracle” that fewer people were hurt. Stern said, “This could have gone badly if the bus was full of people or if people were waiting at the bus stop.”
Raphael Poch, a spokesman for United Hatzalah International, told CNN that first responders saw injuries caused by the blast. Others were hurt by pieces of broken cars, nails, and ball bearings, which are typical of “terror bombs.”
“It’s been a long time since we’ve seen something this sad. “We hope it doesn’t turn into a regular thing,” Poch said. No one should have to worry about going to work.
In a tweet, the US Embassy in Jerusalem condemned “today’s terrorist attacks on public places,” and White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, “The US stands with Israel’s government and people.”
Jean-Pierre said that the terror attacks that happened in Jerusalem overnight were wrong.