JERUSALEM (AP) – Israeli security forces launched a massive manhunt Friday on two Palestinians allegedly wounded near Tel Aviv, killing three Israelis.
On Thursday, Israel’s independence day, the stabbing was the latest in a series of deadly attacks inside the country in recent weeks. Come as Israeli-Palestinian Tensions Violence has intensified in Jerusalem’s main holy site, sacred to Jews and Muslims.
Police said they were looking for two suspects, aged 19 and 20, from the occupied city of Jenin in the West Bank. Re -emerged as a bastion of warriors In the latest wave of violence – the worst in Israel in years. Some perpetrators arrived from Jenin or around it and Israeli forces began arresting the raiders, resulting in shootings there.
“We will connect with the terrorists and the environment that supports them and they will pay the price,” Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Thursday after a meeting with senior security officials. Authorities said the attackers fled in a car.
Doctors described the horrific scene in Greece, an ultra-Orthodox city near Tel Aviv. Aside from the three dead, four others were injured, one of whom was in critical condition.
Israeli media identified the dead as Jonathan Havakuk, Boaz Goli and Oren Ben Iftah, three fathers between 30 and 40 with 16 children together. The funeral will be held on Friday.
Ben Iftah, a 35-year-old father of six, is a native of the central city of Lod. The city’s mayor, Yair Revivo, said in a Facebook post that “our hearts are falling” and called it a “huge tragedy”.
Israel celebrated Independence Day on Thursday, a national holiday where people usually have barbecues and take part in air shows.
Defense Minister Benny Gantz extended the West Bank closure, imposed before the holiday, to prevent Palestinians from entering Israel and remain in effect until Sunday.
In Washington, DC, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken condemned the “horrific attacks on innocent men and women”.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose government controls the autonomous areas of the West Bank occupied by Israel and cooperates with Israel on security issues, also condemned the attack.
“The killing of Palestinian and Israeli civilians only exacerbates the situation as we all strive to achieve stability and prevent escalation,” the official Wafa news agency said.
The Palestinian militant group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, praised the attack and linked it to violence in the holy city of Jerusalem.
“The attack on the Al-Aqsa mosque will inevitably go unpunished,” Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said. The heroic operation in Tel Aviv is a practical translation of what the warning of resistance was.
The Al-Aqsa Mosque is the third holiest place in Islam and is built on a hill, which is the holiest place for the Jews calling it Temple Mount. It is at the emotional center of the conflict and has been repeatedly confronted by Palestinian and Israeli police in recent weeks.
Under the informal arrangement known as the status quo, Jews had the right to visit a place but not pray there. In recent years, they have been visited more often by police escorts and many have prayed wisely, which angered Palestinians and nearby Jordan, who is the site’s custodian. Palestinians have long feared Israel’s plan to seize or divide it eventually.
Israel has said it is ready to maintain the status quo and accuses Hamas of inciting recent violence.
At least 18 Israelis have been killed in five attacks since March, including another in southern Israel, two in the Tel Aviv area and last week in the West Bank.
As a result of the violence, nearly 30 Palestinians were killed, most of them carrying out attacks or taking part in clashes with Israeli forces in the West Bank. But among those killed was an unarmed woman, and two outspoken observers and human rights groups said Israel often uses excessive force.
Israel and Hamas fought an 11-day war last year, which largely caused a similar uprising in Jerusalem.
Israel occupied the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem – which includes Al -Aqsa and other important religious sites sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims – during the Middle East War in 1967. Palestinians want to create everything of the three territories as their state. tomorrow. The last serious peace talks failed more than ten years ago.
Associated Press writer Fares Akram attended Hamilton, Canada.
Source: Huffpost
