A Palestinian terror attack killed six Israelis and wounded at least a dozen during Jerusalem’s Monday morning rush hour, the deadliest terror attack in Israel since November 2024. “Hundreds of terror attacks have been thwarted by the Israeli police in the last year, but unfortunately, this one got through,” said Chris Mitchell, Middle East bureau chief for CBN News on “Washington Watch.”

“Two Palestinian terrorists got on a bus and then began shooting and also was shooting some pedestrians that were close by,” Mitchell related. “People were in panic just fleeing the scene. Thankfully, there were two people with arms and were able to neutralize those terrorists.” The Daily Wire reports that “a soldier and several civilians returned fire.”

The deceased terrorists were later identified as Palestinian males in their 20s, who lived only two or three miles away in Palestinian towns near Ramallah. Although both Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad praised the attack, it was not clear whether the young men were affiliated with either terror group, if any.

“They had homemade — what’s called a ‘Carlo’ — submachine gun,” Mitchell added. “They were able to come with the help, apparently, of an accomplice.”

Israeli security forces sealed off Jerusalem and launched a full-scale manhunt for any suspected accomplices. Shin Bet arrested a resident of East Jerusalem (the Palestinian section) on suspicion of assisting the terrorists.

Meanwhile, the IDF launched a brigade-scale operation in Samaria searching for additional suspects. The IDF was already dismantling terrorist activity in the area on Sunday night.

Shortly after the attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Ramot Junction, the scene of the deadly attack. “We are in an intense war against terror on several fronts,” Netanyahu declared.

One of Israel’s hostile fronts is with Palestinian terrorists operating out of Judea and Samaria. For nearly two years since October 7 (as well as before), these terrorists have committed intermittent acts of terrorism like Monday’s bus station butchery.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has long subsidized this terrorist activity by providing salaries to terrorists in Israeli prisons and pensions to those it calls “martyrs” in their jihad against Israel.

In February, the Palestinian Authority restructured these payments in hopes of evading American sanctions. However, shortly thereafter, PA leader Mahmoud Abbas pledged to the Fatah Revolutionary Council, “I have told you before, and mark my words, even if we only have one cent left, it will be for the prisoners and martyrs. I will never allow, and you will never allow, the reduction of any obligation, interest, or cent that is given to them. They must receive everything as in the past. They are more precious than all of us combined.”

The PA “continues with its usual deception and its pay-for-slay strategy,” concluded Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar. “Based on their statements and the intelligence we have, payments to families of terrorists proceeded this week as always. The PA continues to finance and encourage terrorism.”

Another of those fronts is in Gaza City, where Israel maintains a punishing bombardment on the remaining Hamas strongholds in the city’s remaining high-rises. On Monday, Netanyahu also warned Gazan civilians to flee the city in anticipation of a final Israeli assault.

“I promised you a few days ago that we would destroy Gaza’s terror towers,” Netanyahu announced. “This is exactly what we are doing. In the past two days, 50 of these towers have fallen. The air force brought them down. Now all of this is just an introduction, just a prelude, to the main intense operation — a ground maneuver of our forces, who are now organizing and gathering in Gaza City. And so, I say to the residents of Gaza, I am taking advantage of this opportunity, and listen to me carefully: You have been warned. Get out of there!”

Israel’s final push in Gaza City comes as the Israeli population shows worsening signs of war fatigue. When Israel planned to call up nearly 60,000 reservists earlier this month — a substantial proportion of its population of 10 million — commanders struggled to convince the reservists to show up for duty. Many have already deployed more than once in the war, and they are losing confidence that their efforts will end the war quickly.

But Israel’s enemies remain ever-active, no matter how weary Israel becomes. The latest bus station attack killed six Israelis from across the demographic crosstabs — a 25-year-old newlywed, a 79-year-old rabbi, a woman in her 50s. Palestinian terrorists do not just target military installations or government figures, but ordinary Israelis living their ordinary lives. As long as that is true, Israel must keep fighting; any other course is suicide.

For his part, Netanyahu reiterated his determination to keep up the fight for as long as it takes. “We will continue this effort until we achieve all of our objectives for the war,” he declared this weekend. “I am aware of the price that we are paying … and the best way to get out of this, of course, is … to end the war as fast as possible with the victory that we have defined: Eliminating Hamas, the return of all the hostages and ensuring that Gaza never again threatens Israel.”