THIS is the horror moment two gunmen open fire at a packed bus station in Jerusalem killing three people.
The shooting happened at the entrance to the city this morning during rush hour, shortly after the Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement was extended.
Dramatic footage shows bystanders fleeing in panic as gunshots are heard while cars are rushing to leave the scene.
Officials said the victims included a 24-year-old woman and a 73-year-old man while another eight people were wounded in the attack.
Israeli police said: “Two terrorists arrived at the scene in a vehicle armed with firearms, these terrorists opened fire towards civilians at the bus station and were subsequently neutralized by security forces and a nearby civilian.
The city’s deputy mayor Fleur Hassan-Nahoum said it was hero civilians who shot the two attackers.
She confirmed that three people were killed adding that five remain in hospital “very badly injured.”
“People just going about their day, waiting for the bus, got cruelly shot by two gunmen with long guns, indiscriminately, and the hospital is now full of injured as well,” she said.
She added that while little is known about the gunmen “we probably know that they’re coming from the sleeper cells that we have around here.”
One of the victims was identified as Ashdod rabbinical judge Elimelech Wasserman, 73.
The offices of Rabbis Yitzhak Yosef and David Lau paid tribute to “a senior, gifted and dedicated dayan,” saying he was “murdered by a vile person,” the Times of Israel reported.
Jerusalem Police District Commander Doron Turgeman told reporters at the scene the attackers came from East Jerusalem.
A large number of ambulances and police converged on the street that was crowded with morning commuters, and police said they were searching the area to make sure there were no other attackers.
The violence came as Israel and Hamas struck a last-minute agreement to extend their truce in Gaza by one more day.
The truce came just minutes before the six-day halt was set to end at 7am local time (5am GMT).
The extended ceasefire will see another 10 hostages released and allow more aid to reach the enclave.
“The bus station was very crowded, which is why so many people were wounded,” Magen David Adom spokesperson Zaki Heller told Army Radio.
A year ago, a bomb exploded at the same bus stop, killing a 16-year-old boy and wounding 18.
US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew said: “Abhorrent terrorist attack in Jerusalem this morning. We unequivocally condemn such brutal violence.”
