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Police cordon off area after a Palestinian man rams digger into a public bus in Jerusalem. (photo: Activestills.org)
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BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- A gunman shot and injured an Israeli soldier in Jerusalem on Monday, Israeli media and police said.

The Israeli news site Ynet said initial reports suggested that a man on a motorcycle opened fire at a soldier near Hebrew University.

The soldier, a man in his 20s, was seriously wounded and taken to a local hospital for treatment, the Ynet report said.

Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld tweeted "police respond to shooting incident near Wadi Joz area in Jerusalem. One man injured moderately/seriously. Police looking into background."

"One man injured taken to hospital for treatment. Police searching for suspect that fled the scene," Rosenfeld said in a second tweet.

Later, he added: "Police heighten security in Jerusalem after 2 terrorist attacks today. Units mobilized in different areas & search continuing for terrorist."

Earlier Monday, Israeli police shot and killed a Palestinian man who rammed an excavator into a bus in East Jerusalem, knocking the bus on its side and running another man over in an apparent attack.

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By Edo Konrad for 972Mag

Two [terrorist] attacks left one Israeli dead and several wounded in Jerusalem on Monday. The first attack, which took place around 1:30 p.m., occurred after a man driving a digger used his vehicle to flip over a public bus, killing one and wounding five others. Just several hours later, a gunman on a motorcycle opened fire on a hitchhiking station near Hebrew University, severely wounding an Israeli soldier. The gunman fled the scene.

According to Haaretz, the assailant in the digger attack, Naif Jabis, drove his vehicle out of a construction site, hit a 25-year-old passerby, before turning toward a nearby square. After driving several meters further, he used the digger’s arm to flip over the bus. This is the first attack of its kind since July 2008, when a Palestinian from East Jerusalem killed three and wounded dozens when he drove a bulldozer into a bus in central Jerusalem.

Both Israel and Palestinian factions in Gaza agreed Monday night to an unconditional 72-hour humanitarian ceasefire, starting at 8 a.m. An Israeli delegation will head for Cairo for talks on a more permanent ceasefire agreement. Meanwhile, both Spain and Britain announced that they would temporarily freeze arms exports to Israel over Operation Protective Edge.

The unilateral truce was announced as worldwide outrage spiked over an Israeli strike near a UN school on Sunday that killed 10 people.

A total of 21 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza Monday, including three children. According to the United Nations, more than 1,865 Palestinians have been killed in the operation, the vast majority of whom are civilians. Sirens sounded across the south as rockets and mortars shot from the Gaza Strip continued to explode in Israeli territory.