Teen killed as twin blasts rock Jerusalem
JERUSALEM: Two blasts went off near bus stops in Jerusalem at the height of morning rush hour on Wednesday, killing a Canadian-israeli teenager and injuring at least 18, in what police said were atacks by Palestinians.
The first explosion occurred near a typically crowded bus stop on the edge of the city.
The second went off about half an hour later in Ramot, a setlement in the city’s north.
Police said one person died from their wounds and at least three were seriously wounded in the blasts.
The victim was identified as Aryeh Schupak, 15, who was heading to a Jewish seminary when the blast went off, according to a notice announcing his death. Schupak was also a Canadian citizen, according to Canada’s Ambassador to Israel Lisa Stadelbauer.
The violence occurred hours ater Palestinians stormed a West Bank hospital and carried out an Israeli citizen seeking treatment there ater a car accident, according to the young man’s father. That incident could further ratchet up tensions.
Outgoing Israeli prime minister Yair Lapid said Israel would track down the atackers.
“They can run, they can hide - it won’t help them,” he said in a statement. “We will punish them to the fullest extent of the law.” Itamar Ben-gvir, an extremist lawmaker who has called for the death penalty for Palestinian atackers and who is set to become the minister in charge of police under Benjamin Netanyahu, said the atack meant Israel needed to take a tougher stance on Palestinian violence.
“We must exact a price from terror,” he said at the scene of the first explosion.
“We must return to be in control of Israel, to restore deterrence against terror.” Police, who were searching for the suspected atackers, said their initial findings showed that shrapnel-laden explosive devices were placed at the two sites.
The police said it deployed additional officers to the city in the atermath of the blasts.
The twin blasts occurred amid the buzz of rush hour traffic and police briefly closed part of a main highway leading out of the city, where the first explosion went off. Video from shortly ater the initial blast showed debris strewn along the sidewalk as the wail of ambulances blared.
A bus in Ramot was pocked with what looked like shrapnel marks.
“It was a crazy explosion,” Yosef Haim Gabay, a medic who was at the scene when the first blast occurred, told Israeli Army Radio.