JERUSALEM (AP) – On Friday morning, Israeli security forces chased and killed a Palestinian who fired a gun at a crowded bar in central Tel Aviv, killing two people and injuring more than 10 in shootings. attack that caused scenes of widespread panic in the heart of Tel Aviv. Noisy city.
It was the fourth deadly Palestinian attack on Israel in the past three weeks and occurred at a time when tensions were rising at the start of Ramadan. Tens of thousands of Palestinians participated in prayer on the first Friday of the Muslim holy month in Jerusalem, amid strong Israeli security, without immediate unrest.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met with senior security officials and announced that the main crossing on the northwest coast near the attacker’s town was closed indefinitely.
“Every killer should know that we can achieve this and those who helped terrorists should know that the price they will pay is unbearable,” Bennett said in a statement.
Israel has continued plans to allow Palestinian women, children and elderly men to enter Jerusalem from the occupied West Bank to pray. Protests and clashes in the holy city during Ramadan last year finally led to the 11-day war in Gaza.
The shooting took place Thursday at a busy bar on Diesengoff Street on Central Highway, which has suffered other attacks in recent years. Thursday night marks the start of Israel’s weekend and the area is full of people with bars and restaurants.
Videos posted on social media show dozens of frightened people running through the streets as police search for the attacker and ordered people to stay home. The dead were identified as Tomer Morad and Eitam Magin, childhood friends in their 20s from Kfar Saba, a town north of Tel Aviv.
Hundreds of Israeli police officers, dog units and army special forces conducted a massive manhunt across Tel Aviv overnight, searching for buildings in crowded residential areas.
On Friday, authorities said the attacker was found hiding near a mosque in Jaffa, south of Tel Aviv’s Arab district, and was shot and killed.
Homeland Security spokesman Raad Hazem, a 28 -year -old Palestinian from Jenin in the occupied West Bank. He allegedly did not belong to an organized military group and had not yet done so. He is said to have illegally entered Israel without permission.
The Jenin refugee camp was the site of the second Palestinian intifada, or one of the deadliest battles of the uprising, 20 years ago. In April 2002, Israeli troops fought Palestinian militants in the camp for nearly three weeks. According to the United Nations, 23 Israeli soldiers and at least 52 Palestinians were killed, including civilians.
The Israeli army frequently conducts arrest raids in Jenin, which are often targeted. The Palestinian Authority, which manages parts of the occupied West Bank and deals with security issues in Israel, appears to have little control over the area.
Since Thursday’s attack, 13 Israelis have been killed in recent weeks, becoming one of the worst waves of violence in recent years.
Gaza, a militant in the Gaza Strip, praised the attack but did not claim responsibility. President Mahmoud Abbas, who heads the chamber, condemned the attack, saying the killing of civilians on both sides “could only have led to a further aggravation of the situation”.
All attackers appear to act individually or with little support from a small cell. Three of them have been identified as extremist groups associated with the Islamic State. But it appears that the militant groups did not train them and did not launch attacks.
To avoid war last year, the leaders of Israel, Jordan and Palestine have held several meetings in recent weeks to discuss ways to stay calm.
Israel has taken several steps to reduce tensions, including issuing thousands of additional work permits to Palestinians in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. But the attacks have led to growing demand for a more stringent crackdown on Israel.
Israel allowed women, children and men over 40 years old from the occupied West Bank to pray on Friday in East Jerusalem at the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The Muslim authority controlling the area said 80,000 people participated in the prayer.
Police have mobilized thousands of powers in the old city and around where Al-His and other sacred places for Jews, Christians and Muslims are located.
The Al-Aqsa Mosque is the third holiest place in Islam and stands on a hill, the holiest place for Jews, calling it the Temple Mount. sacred place It has long been the focus of Israeli-Palestinian violence.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip during the Middle East War in 1967. The Palestinians wanted to create all three territories as their would -be state. Recent significant peace talks failed more than a decade ago and Bennett opposes the Palestinian state but supports measures to improve their economy and quality of life.
Israel annexed East Jerusalem, which is not recognized worldwide and considers the entire city as its capital. It was the Construction and expansion of Jewish communities in the occupied West Bank, which was considered illegal by most of the international community.
Israel removed troops and refugees from Gaza in 2005. But along with neighboring Egypt, it imposed a devastating blockade on the area after militant Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces two years later. Israel and Hamas have fought four wars since then.
Israel says the conflict stems from Palestinians denying themselves the right to exist as a Jewish state and blames the attacks in part on social media incitement. Palestinians say these attacks are the inevitable result of nearly 55 years of endless military occupation.
Source: Huffpost
