Israeli police: Suspect held after attack on Jerusalem bus

At least eight people have been wounded, two of them critically, after a shooting attack on a bus in occupied East Jerusalem.

Israeli police said they had arrested the suspect in Sunday's pre-dawn gun attack. "The terrorist is in our hands," police spokesperson Kan Eli Levy told public radio.

Israel's emergency medical services, the Magen David Adom (MDA), called the incident a "terror attack in the Old City".

Paramedics said they had provided lifesaving treatment to people with gunshot wounds, including bus passengers and people in the King David's Tomb parking area. All victims were taken to nearby hospitals.

"We were on the scene very quickly," senior medic Nehemia Katz and paramedic David Trachtenberg said in a statement.

"On Ma'ale Hashalom Street we saw a passenger bus...in the middle of the road, bystanders called us to treat two males around 30 years old who were on the bus with gunshot wounds."

Bus driver Daniel Kanievsky described how his trip descended into chaos.

"I was coming from the Western Wall. The bus was full of passengers," he told reporters in front of his bullet-riddled vehicle.

"I stopped at the station of the Tomb of David. At this moment, the shooting started. Two people outside I see falling, two inside were bleeding. Everybody panicked."

READ MORE: New Israeli raids on occupied West Bank turn deadly

Tensions running high

The Old City is home to some of the holiest sites in Islam, Judaism and Christianity.

Al Aqsa Mosque is one of the holiest sites for Muslims. Jews call the area the "Temple Mount," claiming it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.

Since 2003, Israel has allowed illegal settlers into the compound almost daily.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem, where Al Aqsa is located, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War.

It annexed the entire city in 1980 in a move never recognised by the international community.

Since March, 19 people –– mostly Israeli civilians –– have been killed in attacks.

Israeli authorities have increased raids in the occupied West Bank. More than 50 Palestinians have been killed in such operations.

Last week saw three days of intense conflict between Israel and Palestinians in besieged Gaza.

At least 49 Palestinians, including many children, were killed in the Israeli aggression, which ended last Sunday after Egypt negotiated a truce.

READ MORE: Death toll from Israeli aggression on Palestine's Gaza climbs