Five people shot dead in Tel Aviv terror attack: Arab gunman is ‘neutralised’ after attacks
Five people including two Ukrainians are shot dead in Tel Aviv terror attack: Arab gunman is ‘neutralised’ after multiple attacks across Israeli city
Five people have been killed by a Palestinian gunman who opened fire in Israel There were reports of several people being shot in two locations near Tel AvivIsraeli police forces say a gunman has been killed and another arrestedTwo of the victims have been reported to be Ukrainians, amid the on-going war
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Five people – including two Ukrainians – were shot dead in a Tel Aviv terror attack last night, before the Arab gunman was ‘neutralised by police’.
Israeli media said the attacker was a Palestinian from the West Bank, the third Arab assailant to launch an attack ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Chilling video of the attack showed a gunman on a motorcycle methodically gunning down victims in the middle of the street.
The shooting in Bnei Brak, an ultra-religious Jewish coastal town outside Tel Aviv, of four civilians and a police officer was the third fatal gun or knife attack in the Jewish state in the past week. Two of those killed are Ukrainians, cops have revealed.
‘An attacker armed with an assault rifle opened fire on civilians on HaShnayim Street in Bnei Brak, leaving several civilians in fatal conditions,’ police said. ‘From there he moved to Herzl Street, opened fire on civilians, and was neutralized by police force.’
The statement noted that ‘a foreigner from Ukraine, aged 23’ and ‘a foreigner from Ukraine, aged 32’ were among those killed.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
But Israeli media said the perpetrator was a Palestinian from the Israeli-occupied West Bank, who had spent four years in the Jewish state’s prisons, identifying him as Diaa Hamarshah.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett warned of a ‘wave of murderous Arab terrorism’ ahead of the funerals Wednesday for two of five people killed in the shooting.
Israeli security and medical personnel secure the scene of an attack in which people were killed by a gunman on a main street in Bnei Brak, near Tel Aviv, Israel
Bennett, who heads an ideologically disparate coalition government ranging from Jewish nationalists to Arabs, said he would convene an emergency meeting with top security officials on Wednesday to review the situation.
Police said its forces were put on the highest level of alert, and the army said it would deploy extra units in and around the West Bank.
‘We unfortunately have to note that five people have died,’ said Eli Bin, head of the Magen David Adom emergency responders.
Those killed were identified as Yaakov Shalom, 36, and Avishai Yehezkel, 29, both ultra-Orthodox residents of Bnei Brak, and Amir Khoury, 32, an Arab Christian policeman from Nof Hagalil who had responded to the attack.
The two other people slain were reported to be foreigners.
The funerals of Yehezkel and Shalom are to take place on Wednesday morning.
In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the attack, saying the killing of Israeli or Palestinian civilians ‘only leads to further deterioration of the situation and instability, which we all strive to achieve, especially as we are approaching the holy month of Ramadan and Christian and Jewish holidays.’
He said the violence ‘confirms that permanent, comprehensive and just peace is the shortest way to provide security and stability for the Palestinian and Israeli peoples.’
Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men gather at the scene of an attack in which people were killed by a gunman on a main street in Bnei Brak
Emergency services attend the scene of an attack in which people were killed by a gunman on a main street in Bnei Brak
Footage (pictured) shows the gunman on a street near Tel Aviv firing at people and vehicles he can see
Israel police officials say one terrorist has been killed and another arrested
Israeli police forensics experts at the scene of the attack in Bnei Brak
Israeli security forces gather at the scene of an attack
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned the ‘terrorist attack’, calling the recent spate of violence ‘unacceptable’.
UN chief Antonio Guterres’ spokesman said he ‘condemns the recent terrorist attacks in Israel’.
‘Such acts of violence can never be justified and must be condemned by all,’ the spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said in a statement.
Tuesday’s shooting is the third deadly attack in Israel in a week, bringing the combined death toll to 11, excluding perpetrators.
A shooting on Sunday killed two Israeli police officers – identified as Shirel Aboukrat, a French-Israeli citizen, and Yezen Falah – in the northern city of Hadera.
That assault was later claimed by the Islamic State group – the jihadists’ first claim of an attack on Israeli territory since 2017.
Israeli police had said the two perpetrators of the Hadera attack were killed at the scene.
Hamas, the Islamic Palestinian movement that rules the Gaza Strip, praised Sunday’s attack as a ‘natural and legitimate response’ to Israeli ‘crimes against our people’.
It was also welcomed by the Gaza-based Islamic Jihad militant group and Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement.
Israeli police search a car at the scene of a shooting attack
Israeli security forces guard the scene of a shooting attack that took place earlier this evening
Footage shows a gunman shooting at people walking by and vehicles
Sunday’s attack coincided with a landmark meeting bringing together Israel’s foreign minister with those of four Arab countries with ties to the Jewish state, as well as Blinken.
Last week, a convicted IS sympathiser killed four Israelis in a stabbing and car-ramming attack in the southern city of Beersheba.
The attacks near Tel Aviv come as Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz visits Jordan, where he met King Abdullah II in a bid to ensure calm in the Palestinian territories during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Tensions flared last year during the fasting month, which starts in April, between Israeli forces and Palestinians visiting Al-Aqsa mosque in annexed east Jerusalem, feeding into 11 days of armed conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Jordan’s king called on Gantz to ‘lift all obstacles that could prevent (Muslims) from performing prayers’ at Al-Aqsa and ‘prevent any provocations that could lead to escalation’.
