At least three people were injured by gunfire in an attack in the center of the coastal city of Tel Aviv on Thursday evening. Ichilov Hospital said one of the injured was in critical condition.
Israeli television reported that the Palestinian perpetrator had been shot dead by police officers. It is a 23-year-old member of the Islamist organization Hamas, which rules in the Gaza Strip. The police are still looking for possible helpers of the assassin in the area. The attack happened while numerous people were also demonstrating in Tel Aviv against the controversial judicial reform in Israel.
The shots were fired on busy Dizengoff Street, near the site of an attack in April last year by a Palestinian who killed three Israelis and wounded others. A local resident reported hearing loud screams. “People fled in all directions,” he said. “It was like the last attack – it’s a terrible feeling.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is currently visiting Rome, spoke of a “serious attack in Tel Aviv”. Nevertheless, they will continue to “build in our country, put down deep roots in our homeland and secure our common future”. German Ambassador Steffen Seibert wrote on Twitter that he was “appalled and saddened by the terrorist attack in the heart of Tel Aviv.”
Violence in the country is escalating
The situation in Israel and the Palestinian territories has been very tense for a long time. On Thursday morning, Israeli soldiers shot dead three Palestinian militants in a vehicle near Jenin in the West Bank.
Six Palestinians were killed in an Israeli military operation in Jenin on Tuesday. According to the army, the Palestinian suspected of being responsible for the deadly attack on two Israeli brothers in Huwara in late February was among the dead. According to media reports, he was a member of the military wing of the Islamist Hamas organization that rules in the Gaza Strip.
Since the beginning of the year, 13 Israelis and one Ukrainian have been killed in Palestinian attacks. In the same period, 76 Palestinians lost their lives – they died, for example, in confrontations with the Israeli army or in their own attacks. A further escalation of violence is feared during the Muslim month of fasting, Ramadan, which begins in just under two weeks.
