Boy shot dead while riding bus home in West Bank 'terror attack'

A 12-year-old boy was shot dead last night when a gunman opened fire on a bus in the West Bank, with three other people injured, according to the Israeli military.

The suspected terrorist attack occurred at around 11.30 pm south of Jerusalem near the Palestinian city of Bethlehem.

The boy, who had been travelling home to see his family at the time, was admitted to hospital in a life-threatening condition.

Tragically, 'after intensive resuscitation attempts,' the boy was declared dead, according to a statement by the Hadassah Hospital west of Jerusalem.

The perpetrator is still on the run and the Israeli military said its forces were in pursuit of the gunman and had set up roadblocks, encircling an area near Bethlehem.

Violence in the West Bank was already on the rise before the war in Gaza erupted on Oct. 7 last year and has surged since, with frequent Israeli military raids, violence by Jewish settlers and Palestinian street attacks on Israelis.

It comes as Israel's offensive in Gaza grinds on, with intense bombing of large swathes of the Strip overnight killing at least 35 Palestinians, according to the WAFA news agency.

Children and women were among seven killed when a residential building in Gaza City's al-Jalaa Street was bombed, WAFA said. 

Another 15 were killed in the bombing of a house where displaced people were taking shelter, west of Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip, the agency added.

In the western area of Rafah city, south of the Gaza Strip, 13 Palestinians were killed and others were injured, according to WAFA, in a strike that hit people providing aid.

Earlier, medics said at least 30 people were also wounded in the Rafah attack, with several in critical condition.

In the nearby city of Khan Younis, another group of men tasked with security for aid shipments was hit by a separate Israeli airstrike that wounded several of them, medics said.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

Armed gangs have repeatedly hijacked aid trucks shortly after they roll into the enclave, prompting the Islamist Hamas group to form a task force to confront them. The Hamas-led forces have killed over two dozen members of the gangs in recent months, according to Hamas sources and medics.

Hamas said Israeli military strikes have killed at least 700 police tasked with securing aid trucks in Gaza since the war began on October 7, 2023.

Months of ceasefire efforts by Arab mediators, Egypt, and Qatar, backed by the United States, have failed to conclude a deal between the two warring sides.

On Wednesday, the United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly voted to demand an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the immediate release of all hostages.

General Assembly resolutions are not binding but carry political weight, reflecting a global view on the war. The United States, Israel and seven other countries voted against the ceasefire resolution, while 13 countries abstained.

The war in the Palestinian enclave began after Hamas gunmen stormed into Israeli communities in October 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages back to Hamas-run Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.

Since then, Israel's military has leveled swaths of Gaza, driving nearly all of its 2.3 million people from their homes, giving rise to deadly hunger and disease and killing more than 44,800 people, according to Palestinian health authorities.