After attack in Tel Aviv: Suspected assassin shot dead
Nfter the deadly attack in the center of the Israeli coastal metropolis of Tel Aviv, the suspected assassin was shot dead by security forces. The terrorist was tracked down and killed, the domestic intelligence service said Shin Bet With. It was a 28-year-old Palestinian from Jenin in the West Bank. He had no clear ties to any organizations and had not been arrested in the past. The man was in Israel without a permit.
prime minister Naftali Bennett Wrote on Twitter: “We remain on maximum alert, in Tel Aviv and across the country, for fear of further events or assassination by copycats. (…) Our war against murderous terror is long and hard.”
Secretary of Defense Benny Gantz also tweeted: “We got our hands on the despicable terrorist. We will expand our activities against the terror wave in terms of attack, defense and intelligence activities.”
According to the secret service, the 28-year-old man was found early Friday morning after an intensive nine-hour search by hundreds of security forces and was killed after a firefight with Israeli forces. He hid in Jaffa in the south of the city near a mosque.
At least two people were killed in the attack in central Tel Aviv on Thursday evening. According to media reports, these are two men aged 27 and 28. At least ten other people were reportedly gunshot wounded. An assassin shot at patrons of a pub on busy Dizengoff Street, police said. As the army radio later reported, citing the responsible hospital, the condition of all the injured stabilized.
“Last night murderous terror struck the heart of Tel Aviv. Young Israelis who did nothing to anyone were murdered simply because they are Israelis,” Foreign Minister Jair Lapid said. “This terror is the poisonous result of sustained incitement by terrorist organizations fueled by the ideology of hate.”
In the past two weeks, eleven people have been killed in a wave of terrorism in Israel. In two of the three attacks, the attackers were Israeli Arabs with ties to IS. In the most recent attack a week ago, the assassin was a Palestinian.
The country fears further acts of violence during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which began last Saturday. The attacks marked the bloodiest week in Israel in 16 years.
There have been repeated attacks in Tel Aviv in the past. In January 2016, an Israeli Arab shot dead two people on Dizengoff Street. In June 2016, two Palestinians shot dead four Israelis and injured several others in central Sarona Park.
