Boy, 12, is shot dead while riding bus home to his family and three others are wounded in West Bank ‘terrorist attack’
According to the Israeli military, a 12-year-old boy was shot dead last night when a gunman opened fire on a bus in the West Bank, wounding three other people.
The suspected terrorist attack took place around 11:30 pm south of Jerusalem, near the Palestinian city of Bethlehem.
The boy, who had traveled home to visit his family at the time, was admitted to hospital in life-threatening condition.
Tragically, the boy was pronounced dead “after intensive resuscitation efforts,” according to a statement from Hadassah Hospital west of Jerusalem.
The perpetrator is still on the run and the Israeli army said its forces were pursuing the gunman and had set up roadblocks around an area near Bethlehem.
Violence in the West Bank was already on the rise before the war in Gaza broke out on October 7 last year and has increased dramatically since then, with frequent Israeli military raids, violence by Jewish settlers and Palestinian street attacks on Israelis.
Israeli security forces patrol the scene of a shooting near a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank north of Bethlehem, December 12, 2024
The Israeli army said its forces were pursuing the gunman and had set up roadblocks
The suspected terrorist attack took place around 11:30 p.m. south of Jerusalem, near the Palestinian city of Bethlehem
It comes as Israel’s offensive in Gaza continues, with intense bombing across large parts of the Strip killing at least 35 Palestinians overnight, according to news agency WAFA.
Children and women were among seven killed when a residential building on al-Jalaa Street in Gaza City was bombed, WAFA said.
Another 15 were killed in the bombing of a house where displaced people were taking refuge, west of the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip, the agency added.
In the western part of the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, 13 Palestinians were killed and others injured in a strike that hit people providing aid, according to WAFA.
Earlier, medics said at least 30 people were also injured in the attack on Rafah, with several in critical condition.
In the nearby town of Khan Younis, another group of men charged with securing aid shipments were hit by a separate Israeli airstrike that wounded several of them, medics said.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.