Palestinian gunmen opened fire at a crowded bus stop in the northern outskirts of Jerusalem on Monday, killing six people and injuring 12 others before being shot dead by an off-duty soldier and a civilian at the scene.

The victims included a 79-year-old former cardiologist, a 43-year-old rabbi and a 25-year-old who had recently emigrated from Spain. Twenty-six others suffered injuries, including six who were left in a serious condition with gunshot wounds.

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, visited the site of the attack in Jerusalem with his far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir. “The war continues, in Jerusalem as well,” Netanyahu said.

He later repeated calls for people in Gaza City to leave before an upcoming “ground operation” by Israeli forces. “You have been warned – get out of there,” he said.

The finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, said: “This abominable attack will have the most severe and far-reaching consequences.

“We will pursue terror everywhere. Just as we crushed Palestinian terror in the Jenin terror camp and the terror camps in northern Samaria, so we will soon do in additional terror camps. Whoever sponsors terror and directs terror will pay the full price.”

After the attack, the Israeli military said it was encircling Palestinian villages on the outskirts of the nearby West Bank city of Ramallah.

Israel Defence Forces statement

Eyal Zamir, the Israel Defence Forces’ chief of staff, later said in a statement that he “ordered a full closure of the area from which the terrorists came”.

“We will continue with a determined and ongoing operational and intelligence effort, we will pursue terror cells everywhere, and we will thwart terrorist infrastructure and its organisers,” he said.

Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, issued a statement condemning “any targeting of Palestinian and Israeli civilians”.

Hamas praised two Palestinian “resistance fighters” who it said had carried out the attack, but stopped short of claiming responsibility. Islamic Jihad, another Palestinian militant group, also praised the shooting without claiming responsibility.

In Gaza, meanwhile, the Israeli military said four Israeli soldiers were killed on Monday after an explosive device was thrown into their tank. Another soldier was injured during the ensuing exchange of fire, while “hits were identified” on two of the three militants who carried out the assault, it said.

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Gaza hospitals received the bodies of 65 people killed by Israeli fire over the past 24 hours, with another 320 people wounded, the territory’s health ministry said.

The war in Gaza has sparked a rise in violence in the occupied West Bank and in Israel. Palestinian militants have attacked and killed Israelis, while there has been a steep rise in settler violence against Palestinians.

Spain, the EU, Germany and the United Arab Emirates also issued statements of condemnation.