At least five people were shot dead on the outskirts of Tel Aviv on Tuesday (29). The gunman was also killed after the attack, the fourth such incident in the last ten days in the country.
The local press had initially reported that the author of the action was an Arab-Israeli citizen, but later pointed out that he was a 27-year-old man from the West Bank and a member of Fatah, a Palestinian organization. He was reportedly arrested in 2015 for illegally carrying weapons, but released six months later.
Hours after the attack, the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas released a statement, in which it said it “blessed the heroic operation against the soldiers of the Zionist occupation in the so-called Tel Aviv area”. The organization also stated that the attack “comes in the context of the natural and legitimate response to the occupation’s terrorism and its escalating crimes against our land, our people and our sanctities.”
Witnesses said the man fired at the balconies of a residential building in Bnei Brak, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish-majority suburb of the city, and then shot at people on the street. He was killed by a police officer who was patrolling the area on a motorcycle. According to local media, another person was arrested on suspicion of aiding the shooter.
One of the dead was found in a car and three other victims were found on nearby sidewalks. The fifth victim would be a policeman, who received medical treatment before dying.
Israel Police Spokesperson Eli Levy and authorities in Bnei Brak urged the public not to approach the site of the attack. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has yet to comment.
The most recent such action had taken place on Sunday (27), when two terrorists of Arab origin killed two Israeli police officers in Hadera – 50 kilometers from Tel Aviv. They were killed in the aftermath and at least three people were injured.
The Islamic State group later claimed responsibility for the attack.
In different statements, the armed Palestinian Islamist movements of Hamas and Islamic Jihad applauded what they called the “heroic operation of Hadera”.
Five days earlier, an attack was also recorded in Beersheba, in the south of the country. A Bedouin citizen killed four people — one by being run over and three by stab wounds — before being killed by an armed civilian. The episode, one of the deadliest of its kind in recent years in Israel, was the third against Jewish citizens in less than a week.
Israeli authorities are on alert for rising tensions between Arabs and Israelis in April, a holy month for Muslims (because of Ramadan), Jews (because of the Passover holiday) and Christians (Easter).
In May of last year, for example, conflicts broke out in the Gaza Strip at this time.
