The two assailants who carried out a terror attack on Thursday morning in Jerusalem have been identified as brothers, Murad Namr, 38, and Ibrahim Namr, 30, The Times of Israel reported citing the Shin Bet security agency.
The duo exited a car at the entrance to Jerusalem and opened fire at a group of civilians waiting at a bus stop, surveillance footage shared by a Times of Israel correspondent showed.
The two brothers had previously been incarcerated for terror activity. Murad was jailed from 2010 to 2020 for planning terror attacks under the direction of terror elements in the Gaza Strip, reported The Times of Israel citing the Shin Bet security agency.
Ibrahim was jailed in 2014 for undisclosed terror activity, the agency said. The shooting that occurred at 7:40 am local time has killed three persons so far including, two elderly civilians, who died in hospital and a 24-year-old woman who died on the scene, several others were also injured during the incident.
One of the victims has been named as rabbinical judge Elimelech Wasserman. The offices of Rabbis Yitzhak Yosef and David Lau both mourned Wasserman as a senior, gifted and dedicated Dayan (judge in Jewish religious court), saying he was "murdered by a vile person."
After his retirement, Wasserman was appointed a dayan amit, a retired rabbinical judge who continues serving after retirement if there are empty seats on the bench, The Times of Israel has reported. Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir arriving at the scene of this morning's terror attack, said that Israel must respond to the terror attacks with military pressure.
"This type of incident proves again how much we can't show weakness, how much we have to speak to Hamas only through intentions, only through the war," he said appearing to criticize the government's ceasefire negotiations with the terror group. -- ANI