The attack Monday morning was carried out by two shooters who boarded a bus in northern Jerusalem. Before they were killed by a security officer and an armed civilian, the attackers wounded at least 14 others, including several who are in critical condition.
The attack was praised by Hamas, which called the attackers “resistance fighters,” and by a second terrorist group called Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Reacting to the attack on the “Washington Watch” program, Chris Mitchell, the Middle East correspondent for the Christian Broadcasting Network, said the attackers were identified as Palestinians who live only a few miles away from the bus stop they attacked.
“They had a homemade – what is called a Carlo – submachine gun that they use,” Mitchell said.
The Carlo is the name of an improvised firearm built from various parts and commonly used by Palestinians for terrorist attacks.
The attack came just two weeks after a sermon on Palestinian TV urged viewers to “kill them all, kill them one by one” in the name of Allah, Mitchell said, citing watchdog group Palestinian Media Watch.
The bus stop attack is the worst such attack in Israel since November 2024, which killed four Israelis, Mitchell said.
Washington Times columnist Robert Knight tells AFN the bus attack was basically shrugged off by other countries that also believe the worst propaganda coming from Hamas terrorists, such as starving Gazans.
“So, therefore, I guess it’s okay for these terrorists to go on targeting civilians,” Knight complains.
On the program, Mitchell and show host Tony Perkins shifted the focus from the bus stop attack to the IDF offensive happening now in Gaza City. That offensive is moving forward despite international pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end the attack.
The prime minister, who visited the bus stop attack (pictured at right), has vowed to choose “victory over our enemies” even if it means “bad propaganda” against Israel.
“Do the Israeli citizens share that resolve?” Perkins asked.
“To some degree, I think they do,” Mitchell replied. “They want to have a victory.”
With the IDF now controlling about 70% of Gaza, the offensive against Gaza City represents a last military offensive to surround Hamas and eliminate it.
Civilians in the city are being urged by the IDF to evacuate as the offensive is expected to expand, according to an Associated Press story.
