Two people waiting at a bus stop in East Jerusalem were killed and five others were injured when a driver rammed them at high speed with his car. The dead are a six-year-old boy who died on the spot, and a twenty-year-old man who soon died from his injuries in a city hospital.

According to authorities, the perpetrator, a 31-year-old Palestinian from East Jerusalem, was “neutralized” on the spot by police stationed near the scene. Among the victims is an eight-year-old girl who is in critical condition, and a twenty-year-old man got married two months ago.

Demolition of a house

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu soon after demanded that the attacker’s house be sealed and demolished, a tactic the Israeli government used in the terrorists’ homes to set an example.

A 31-year-old Palestinian who attacked a bus stop crashed his car.

“On behalf of the entire people of Israel, I express my sincere condolences to the families of the victims of Jerusalem. I proceeded to assess the situation and ordered the reinforcement of the security forces, arrests and immediate action to seal the house of the terrorist and demolish it. Our response to terrorism is to hit it with all our might and further deepen our control over our country,” Netanyahu said through a spokesman.

Jihad and Hamas

The Palestinian terrorist groups Islamic Jihad and Hamas, the latter of which controls most of the Gaza Strip, supported the attack but did not claim responsibility.

A Hamas spokesman called the attack “a heroic response to the crimes of the occupation.” The attack came at a time of escalating violence on both sides. A few weeks ago, an IDF “anti-terrorist operation” in the West Bank killed nine Palestinians, including an elderly woman, and a few days later, a Palestinian gunman opened fire outside a Jerusalem synagogue, killing at least eight worshipers as they left.

Far-right Israeli security minister Itamar Ben Gvir said he would like to “raze the entire” Palestinian area to the ground, but there are legal issues with doing so, adding that he continues to work on passing a law requiring the death penalty for terrorists.