Hamas Claims Responsibility for Monday’s Deadly Jerusalem Terror Attack

Algemeiner Staff

People inspect a bus with bullet holes at the scene where a shooting terrorist attack took place at the outskirts of Jerusalem, Sept. 8, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad

The Palestinian terrorist group Hamas‘s military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, on Tuesday claimed responsibility for the shooting that killed six people in Jerusalem on Monday.

In a statement, the internationally designated terrorist group, which has ruled Gaza for nearly two decades and also maintained operations in the West Bank, said the two assailants who carried out the attack, Muhammad Taha and Muthanna Amro, were members.

The two Palestinian gunmen boarded a bus at Ramot Junction in northern Jerusalem and opened fire, killing six people before the attackers were shot dead by a soldier and an armed civilian. They were believed to have set out from two villages in the West Bank, according to Israeli officials. A third suspect was later arrested.

Those who were killed include Jacob Pinto, 25; Sarah Mendelson, 60; Rabbi Israel Matzner, 28; Rabbi Yosef David, 43; Rabbi Mordechai Steintzag, 79; and Rabbi Levi Yitzhak Pash. About 15 others were reportedly injured in the attack, including a pregnant woman and six who were in critical condition with gunshot wounds. Pinto, who recently immigrated to Israel from Spain, was a newlywed and the cousin of Instagram influencer Ariella Charnas.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told security agencies on Monday night to prepare for a strike on Hamas leaders abroad following the terrorist attack in Jerusalem and a separate attack on an Israeli tank in northern Gaza that killed four soldiers, according to a joint statement from Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz.

Israel’s military and Shin Bet security agency on Tuesday targeted senior Hamas leadership in Qatar with airstrikes. For years, Qatar has not only hosted and sheltered top Hamas leaders but also supported the Islamist group diplomatically and financially.

“The prime minister and defense minister believed the operation was fully justified, given that this Hamas leadership was the one that initiated and organized the Oct. 7 massacre,” Netanyahu and Katz said, referring to Hamas’s 2023 invasion of southern Israel that started the war in Gaza. The two leaders added in their statement that Hamas “has since continued to carry out murderous attacks against Israel and its citizens, including taking responsibility for the murder of our civilians in yesterday’s attack in Jerusalem.”

Katz and Netanyahu added that they identified an “operational opportunity” to give Shin Bet and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) the green light to carry out the strikes in Qatar.

A taxi driver helped rescue an elderly woman from Monday’s terrorist attack, according to video circulating on social media. The footage, taken from a vehicle’s dashboard camera, showed the driver, reportedly named Yigal, rushing from his seat to the passenger seat, which was occupied by an elderly woman he had driven in the city.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog spoke with the driver and praised the man for his courage.

“I am moved to speak with you, dear Yigal; you are truly an example of civilian heroism. I saw the video and said, ‘Get me Yigal!’” Herzog said, according to Israeli media reports. “Well done. You are an exemplary citizen. I want to thank you. You bring immense pride to the State of Israel.”

Several guns, ammunition, and a knife used by the attackers were found at the scene of the shooting.