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Terrorist Kills Young Boy, Injures Others in Shooting on Israeli Bus
Israeli soldiers and emergency responders attend the scene of a suspected Palestinian shooting attack on an Israeli bus that, according to Israeli emergency services, killed a child and wounded others, near Beit Jala in the West Bank, Dec. 12, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Dedi Hayun
JNS.org — A terrorist killed a 12-year-old boy and wounded others in a shooting at a civilian bus near the Al-Khader Junction in Gush Etzion, an area south of Jerusalem in the West Bank.
The murdered boy was identified as Yehoshua Aharon Tuvya Simcha, the son of a prominent rabbi who manages a yeshivah in nearby Beitar Illit. Some reports said that the boy was 10.
“Heartbreaking news tonight from Israel: A shooting terror attack on a bus near Jerusalem leaves three wounded and a young boy killed,” the Israeli embassy in Washington stated. “May his memory be a blessing.”
“May Hashem avenge his death,” said Marc Zell, the chairman of Republicans Overseas Israel.
Several Israelis were being treated after a terrorist shot at a civilian bus, the Israel Defense Forces stated in Hebrew early on Thursday. It added that security forces were pursuing the terrorist and that it deployed roadblocks near Bethlehem.
The terrorist surrendered to security forces on Thursday morning following a pursuit, the IDF, Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), and Israel Police announced in a joint statement.
The suspect opened fire on the bus traveling on Route 60 from Beitar Illit to Jerusalem. The bus continued to the Tunnel Checkpoint, where it stopped so the injured could receive medical treatment.
The Magen David Adom emergency medical service said that it responded to the shooting and that its paramedics “treated and evacuated two injured to Hadassah [Medical Center in Jerusalem’s] Ein Kerem: a 12-year-old child in serious condition and a 40-year-old woman in mild condition.”
“We found a 12-year-old with gunshot wounds, treated him, and evacuated him to Hadassah,” said Elhai Sofer, a Magen David Adom paramedic, and Yaakov Greenwald, a senior EMT. “A 40-year-old woman in moderate condition was evacuated to Shaare Zedek [Medical Center in Jerusalem].”
According to MDA, two others with mild wounds from shattered glass were also treated.
The attacker was identified as Ezz Aldin Malluh, from Bayt Awwa, west of Hebron. He initially tried to turn himself in to the Palestinian Authority but was turned away, with officers confiscating his weapon.
“Regrettably, the death of the child who was critically injured in the deadly shooting attack on a bus traveling from our city to Jerusalem has been confirmed,” the Beitar Illit Municipality said.
“The family, Jerusalem residents, was returning from a family celebration when they were caught in the terrorist’s gunfire directed at the bus. The attacker fired 23 bullets before fleeing the scene. In addition to the deceased child, a woman from Jerusalem was moderately injured, and two others sustained mild injuries,” the municipality continued.
Three Breslov Chassids were shot and sustained minor injuries while traveling to pray at the Joseph’s Tomb compound on the southeastern outskirts of Nablus late Tuesday night.
Separately, a 21-year-old man was lightly wounded in a suspected vehicular assault in Bnei Brak, a city east of Tel Aviv, on Tuesday evening.
The post Terrorist Kills Young Boy, Injures Others in Shooting on Israeli Bus first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Germany: 5 Killed, Scores Wounded after Saudi Man Plows Car Into Christmas crowd
Magdeburg Christmas market, December 21, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Christian Mang
i24 News – A suspected terrorist plowed a vehicle into a crowd at a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg, west of the capital Berlin, killing at least five and injuring dozens more.
Local police confirmed that the suspect was a Saudi national born in 1974 and acting alone.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed his concern about the incident, saying that “reports from Magdeburg suggest something bad. My thoughts are with the victims and their families.”
Police declined to give casualty numbers, confirming only a large-scale operation at the market, where people had gathered to celebrate in the days leading up to the Christmas holidays.
The post Germany: 5 Killed, Scores Wounded after Saudi Man Plows Car Into Christmas crowd first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Syria’s New Rulers Name HTS Commander as Defense Minister
A person waves a flag adopted by the new Syrian rulers, as people gather during a celebration called by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) near the Umayyad Mosque, after the ousting of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, Photo: December 20, 2024. REUTERS/Ammar Awad/File Photo
Syria’s new rulers have appointed Murhaf Abu Qasra, a leading figure in the insurgency which toppled Bashar al-Assad, as defense minister in the interim government, an official source said on Saturday.
Abu Qasra, who is also known by the nom de guerre Abu Hassan 600, is a senior figure in the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group which led the campaign that ousted Assad this month. He led numerous military operations during Syria’s revolution, the source said.
Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa discussed “the form of the military institution in the new Syria” during a meeting with armed factions on Saturday, state news agency SANA reported.
Abu Qasra during the meeting sat next to Sharaa, also known by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani, photos published by SANA showed.
Prime Minister Mohammed al-Bashir said this week that the defense ministry would be restructured using former rebel factions and officers who defected from Assad’s army.
Bashir, who formerly led an HTS-affiliated administration in the northwestern province of Idlib, has said he will lead a three-month transitional government. The new administration has not declared plans for what will happen after that.
Earlier on Saturday, the ruling General Command named Asaad Hassan al-Shibani as foreign minister, SANA said. A source in the new administration told Reuters that this step “comes in response to the aspirations of the Syrian people to establish international relations that bring peace and stability.”
Shibani, a 37-year-old graduate of Damascus University, previously led the political department of the rebels’ Idlib government, the General Command said.
Sharaa’s group was part of al Qaeda until he broke ties in 2016. It had been confined to Idlib for years until going on the offensive in late November, sweeping through the cities of western Syria and into Damascus as the army melted away.
Sharaa has met with a number of international envoys this week. He has said his primary focus is on reconstruction and achieving economic development and that he is not interested in engaging in any new conflicts.
Syrian rebels seized control of Damascus on Dec. 8, forcing Assad to flee after more than 13 years of civil war and ending his family’s decades-long rule.
Washington designated Sharaa a terrorist in 2013, saying al Qaeda in Iraq had tasked him with overthrowing Assad’s rule and establishing Islamic sharia law in Syria. US officials said on Friday that Washington would remove a $10 million bounty on his head.
The war has killed hundreds of thousands of people, caused one of the biggest refugee crises of modern times and left cities bombed to rubble and the economy hollowed out by global sanctions.
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Sweden Ends Funding for UNRWA, Pledges to Seek Other Aid Channels
View of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) building in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib / Flash90.
i24 News – Sweden will no longer fund the U.N. refugee agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) and will instead provide humanitarian assistance to Gaza via other channels, the Scandinavian country said on Friday.
The decision comes on the heels of multiple revelations regarding the agency’s employees’ involvement in the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre in southern Israel that triggered the war in Gaza.
Sweden’s decision was in response to the Israeli ban, as it will make channeling aid via the agency more difficult, the country’s aid minister, Benjamin Dousa, said.
“Large parts of UNRWA’s operations in Gaza are either going to be severely weakened or completely impossible,” Dousa said. “For the government, the most important thing is that support gets through.”
The Palestinian embassy in Stockholm said in a statement: “We reject the idea of finding alternatives to UNRWA, which has a special mandate to provide services to Palestinian refugees.”
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel thanked Dousa for a meeting they had this week and for Sweden’s decision to drop its support for UNRWA.
“There are worthy and viable alternatives for humanitarian aid, and I appreciate the willingness to listen and adopt a different approach,” she said.
The post Sweden Ends Funding for UNRWA, Pledges to Seek Other Aid Channels first appeared on Algemeiner.com.