Palestinian attacker shot; Israel and Hamas exchange fire

JERUSALEM (AP) — A Palestinian attacker in Jerusalem stabbed a man on a bus with a screw driver on Tuesday before he was shot by a bystander, Israeli police said.

Earlier Tuesday, Israeli aircraft struck a post belonging to the militant Hamas group in the Gaza Strip, in response to a gunshot fired into southern Israel from the Palestinian territory earlier in the day, the military said.

In the Jerusalem stabbing, hospital officials said the victim, a man in his 40s, was moderately wounded. The alleged attacker was shot by a nearby bystander and taken to hospital in critical condition. Police said initial reports indicated the attack was nationalistically motivated but gave no further details.

In the Gaza airstrike, Palestinian media said the site was struck multiple times by missiles from the air. Earlier Tuesday, a bullet fired from Gaza hit an industrial building in the community of Netiv HaAsara, the military said.

There were no reports of injuries in either incident. No one has claimed responsibility for firing the bullet, but Israel holds Hamas responsible for all violence originating from Gaza, which has been under the rule of the Islamic militant since 2007.

On Saturday, the Israeli military carried out a series of airstrikes on a Hamas site in response to a rocket fire toward Israel. The rocket attack came hours after President Joe Biden concluded a three-day trip to Israel and the occupied West Bank, where the Palestinian Authority, Hamas’ rival, holds sway.

Hamas does not recognize Israel and has fought four wars with it in the past 15 years.

Copyright © 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.

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