Six Israelis were massacred in a terror attack in Jerusalem on Monday morning shortly after 10am.
By Rachel Avraham
On Monday morning, six people were massacred in a terror attack at the Ramat Junction in Jerusalem. Emergency services reported that, in addition to the fatalities, two people were seriously wounded, four were moderately injured, and more than two dozen others were treated for shock, I24 News reported.
The two gunmen, Palestinian residents of the West Bank, arrived at the Ramot Junction shortly after 10 a.m. — according to some reports, by car — and opened fire at people waiting at a bus stop as well as at a bus that had just stopped there, the Times of Israel reported. “When I got off the bus, I started to hear gunshots. I didn’t know where it came from. I saw people running, so I ran with them,” Esther Lugasi, who was one of the wounded, told Arutz Sheva.
At a certain point, someone pushed Lugasi, causing her to lose he balance and lightly injure herself, Arutz Sheva noted. She continues her account: “We kept running until we got to a bus terminal, and they told us to go hide there. So everybody went there and waited until they told us we could leave.” Lugasi describes how bullets just narrowly missed her, “It’s really a miracle that they didn’t hit me.”
She shares the existential fear that she felt during the terrifying moments. “I felt like I was going to die because, when I fell, my arms were full of blood, so I thought: ‘Oh my G-d I’m dead. But how am I running if I’m dead?’ Then someone pushed me and told me to keep running. “It felt like I was running for hours, but it was just seconds. Maybe because I was so afraid, it felt like hours. We crossed the street and hid with other women who were also scared.”
Magen David Adom paramedic Nadav Tayeb described the scene as chaotic and devastating to Israel Hayom: “We arrived with large forces immediately after receiving the report of shooting casualties. When we got there, we saw people lying on the road unconscious, near the bus stop on the roadside and sidewalk. There was extensive destruction, shattered glass on the ground, and great commotion. We began providing medical treatment to the wounded, and we are continuing at this time to treat them and evacuate them to hospitals,” he said.
Authorities released the names of the six victims: Rabbi Levi Yitzhak Pash, who worked as a maintenance employee at the Kol Torah yeshiva; Rabbi Yosef David, 43, a resident of the Ramot neighborhood; Yaakov Pinto, 25, a newly married immigrant from Spain; Israel Metzner, a Jerusalem resident; Sarah Mendelsohn, 60, the only woman among the victims; and Rabbi Mordechai Steinzag, 79, the owner of the well-known Dr. Mark bakery in Beit Shemesh, I24 News reported.
Mendelson, also known as “Sarita,” was on her way to work at the national headquarters of Bnei Akiva, a religious Zionist youth group, where she was a member of the national leadership, the movement said., the Times of Israel reported. According to the report, Mendelson had “for decades” managed municipal relations in the movement’s treasury. Netanel Alek, the movement’s deputy secretary-general, was quoted in Hebrew media as saying “Sarita was kind of the mother of Bnei Akiva and was always smiling to everyone. She was always thinking how to invest the money in children and the needy.”
According to Arutz Sheva, Sarah’s husband, Shlomi, lamented: “The great loss has not settled in. Sarita, my dear wife, you were all energy of kindness and a straight path. All of your actions set an example. You were admired by all, everyone in their own way. Everyone who knew you is weeping. Members of Bnei Akiva, it isn’t sinking in for anyone.
Aviya Ben-Haroush, Sarah’s daughter, eulogized: “How can a pure thing like you meet such evil? I’m sure you will look after us and send us powers of joy and support from above. The people of Israel have suffered enough; it hurts too much. Pray for the hostages, for our soldiers, and for us.”
UN Secretary-General António Guterres strongly condemned the terror attack, his Spokesperson said in a statement. “He conveys his heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims and wishes a full and speedy recovery to those who were wounded,” it said.
Photo from Sky News: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNW5bG93SMg&t=1s
