Five-year-old Yaakov Israel Paley and 20-year-old Alter Shlomo Lederman were killed in a car-ramming attack in the Ramot neighborhood of Jerusalem on Friday.
Seven-year-old Asher Menachem Paley, Yaakov’s brother, died over Shabbat from wounds sustained in the attack.
Three others injured in the attack were being treated at the Shaare Zedek and Hadassah Mount Scopus Medical Centers in the Israeli capital.
Police said that the terrorist was fatally shot and a large force was dispatched to the scene.
The attacker was identified as Hussein Karaka, 31, an Arab Israeli resident of the Issawiya neighborhood in eastern Jerusalem.
“When we arrived at the scene, the sight was shocking. We saw a car near the bus stop after it hit pedestrians who were waiting,” said Magen David Adom paramedic Shraga Rosenthal. “We saw six victims lying next to each other; among them two children about six years old who were unconscious with severe multi-system injuries. A man about 27 years old and a man about 30 years old were unconscious, and two more victims were fully conscious with injuries to their limbs. We gave them initial medical treatment and performed CPR on both children. This is a very serious incident,” he added.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the reinforcement of security forces in the area, and the sealing and later destruction of the terrorist’s home.
“I am extending condolences on behalf of all the citizens of Israel to the families of those murdered in the attack in Jerusalem. Our answer to terrorism is to strike it with all our might and further deepen our hold on our country,” said Netanyahu.
“We all pray for the injured,” he added.
President Isaac Herzog similarly wrote on Twitter: “Just before Shabbat, our hearts are pained by the terrible news of a despicable terrorist who took the lives of a little boy and a young man in a car-ramming attack in Jerusalem. Together with the People of Israel I grieve with the families & pray for the recovery of the injured.”
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visited the scene of the attack, where he reiterated a call for the Knesset to implement a death penalty for terrorists.
He added that he had instructed police to set up checkpoints around Issawiya and to “stop each vehicle, to check each car. Enough with the approach that ‘if we do something we’ll make them angry.’ There are terrorist attacks now.”
Israeli media reported however that only sporadic checkpoints had been put in place, and that it was mostly business as usual in Issawiya on Saturday.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that, “We strongly condemn today’s terrorist attack on civilians, including children, at a bus stop in Jerusalem and express our condolences to the families of those killed. The deliberate targeting of innocent civilians is repugnant and unconscionable. The United States extends our deepest sympathies to the injured, and we stand firmly with them in the face of this attack.”
The attack comes after seven people were killed and several others injured in a Jan. 27 terrorist shooting at a synagogue in Jerusalem’s Neve Yaakov neighborhood.