More than a day after the deadly bus shooting at Jerusalem’s Ramot Junction, Hamas officially claimed responsibility, just hours before Israel carried out an airstrike on the group’s leadership meeting in Doha, Qatar. The timing underscored the mounting tension as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) warned that September could become a boiling point in the conflict. With Rosh Hashanah approaching, the IDF likened the situation to a finjan kettle that must be lifted before it spills over, citing an estimated 45,000–70,000 illegal Palestinian residents inside Israel as a serious security risk.

Israeli forces pressed forward with major operations in the West Bank villages of Qatanna and Kubeiba, the hometowns of the two terrorists behind the attack. The gunmen, Mohammed Taha and Muthanna Omar, killed six civilians with improvised Carlo rifles after slipping through a known breach in the separation barrier near Jerusalem. Describing the strike as part of a wider campaign, IDF officials stressed that “the war is not over, and the enemy has not been defeated,” as troops imposed curfews, sealed off the villages, and searched over 100 buildings in pursuit of additional threats.

SOURCE: Ynet Global