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Jerusalem — Israeli safety forces early Friday hunted down and killed a Palestinian man who had opened fireplace right into a crowded bar in central Tel Aviv, killing two and wounding over 10 in an assault that brought about scenes of mass panic within the coronary heart of the bustling metropolis. It was the fourth lethal assault in Israel by Palestinians in three weeks, and got here at a time of heightened tensions across the begin of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
Hundreds of Palestinians from the West Financial institution had been set to enter Jerusalem for the primary Friday prayers of Ramadan on the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met with prime safety officers and introduced {that a} main crossing within the northern West Financial institution close to the attacker’s hometown can be closed indefinitely. But it surely appeared Israel was continuing with plans to permit Palestinian girls, youngsters and older males to enter Jerusalem for prayers. Protests and clashes within the holy metropolis throughout Ramadan final yr finally ignited an 11-day Gaza battle,
“We are going to widen our actions towards the wave of terror via offense, protection and intelligence,” Protection Minister Benny Gantz mentioned forward of the assembly. “The worth that we’ll extract from the attackers and people who ship them will likely be heavy.”
Thursday’s capturing happened in a crowded bar on Dizengoff Avenue, a central thoroughfare that has seen different assaults through the years. Thursday night time is the start of the Israeli weekend, and the realm was filled with folks in bars and eating places.
In movies unfold on social media, dozens of terrified folks had been seen operating via the streets as police looked for the attacker and ordered folks to remain indoors.
Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu Company/Getty
A whole bunch of Israeli law enforcement officials, canine items, and armed forces particular forces, had carried out a large manhunt all through the night time throughout Tel Aviv, looking constructing by constructing via densely populated residential neighborhoods.
Early Friday, authorities mentioned they discovered the attacker hiding close to a mosque in Jaffa, an Arab neighborhood in southern Tel Aviv, and killed him in a shootout.
The Shin Guess inside safety service recognized the attacker as Raad Hazem, a 28-year-old Palestinian man from Jenin, within the occupied West Financial institution. It mentioned he didn’t belong to an organized militant group and had no prior file. It mentioned he had entered Israel illegally with out a allow.
The Jenin refugee camp was the scene of one of many deadliest battles of the second Palestinian intifada, or rebellion, 20 years in the past. In April 2002, Israeli forces fought Palestinian militants within the camp for practically three weeks. Twenty-three Israeli troopers and not less than 52 Palestinians, together with civilians, had been killed, based on the United Nations.
The Israeli navy steadily conducts arrest raids in Jenin, usually coming underneath fireplace. The Palestinian Authority, which administers components of the occupied West Financial institution and coordinates with Israel on safety issues, seems to have little management over the realm.
After Thursday’s assault, 13 Israelis have been killed in current weeks, making this one of many worst waves of violence in years.
The militant Hamas group that guidelines the Gaza Strip praised the assault however didn’t declare duty. President Mahmoud Abbas, who heads the PA, condemned the assault, saying the killing of civilians on both facet “can solely result in an additional deterioration of the state of affairs.”
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The assaults have created a problem for Israeli authorities. The entire attackers seem to have acted individually or with minimal assist from a small cell. Three of them are believed to have recognized with the extremist group Islamic State. However militant teams don’t seem to have skilled them or organized the assaults.
Looking for to keep away from a repeat of final yr’s battle, Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian leaders have held a flurry of conferences in current weeks to debate methods to keep up calm.
Israel has taken a variety of steps geared toward calming tensions, together with issuing 1000’s of extra work permits for Palestinians from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. However the assaults have set off rising calls in Israel for a harder crackdown.
Previous to the assault, Israel had mentioned it might enable girls, youngsters and males over 40 from the occupied West Financial institution to wish on the Al-Aqsa Mosque in east Jerusalem on Friday, the primary weekly prayers of Ramadan. Tens of 1000’s had been anticipated to attend, and 1000’s of police had been to be mobilized.
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The mosque in Jerusalem’s Outdated Metropolis is the third holiest web site in Islam and sits on a hilltop that’s the most sacred web site for Jews, who check with it because the Temple Mount. The holy web site has lengthy been a flashpoint for Israeli-Palestinian violence.
Israel has labored to sideline the Palestinian concern lately, as an alternative specializing in forging alliances with Arab states towards Iran. However the century-old battle stays as intractable as ever.
Israel captured east Jerusalem, the West Financial institution and the Gaza Strip within the 1967 Mideast battle. The Palestinians need all three territories to type their future state. The final substantive peace talks broke down greater than a decade in the past, and Bennett is against Palestinian statehood, although he helps steps to enhance their economic system and high quality of life.
Israel annexed east Jerusalem in a transfer not acknowledged internationally and considers the whole metropolis to be its capital. It’s constructing and increasing Jewish settlements within the occupied West Financial institution, which many of the worldwide neighborhood considers unlawful.
Israel withdrew troopers and settlers from Gaza in 2005. However together with neighboring Egypt, it imposed a crippling blockade on the territory after the militant Hamas group seized energy from rival Palestinian forces two years later. Israel and Hamas have fought 4 wars since then.
Israel says the battle stems from the Palestinians’ refusal to simply accept its proper to exist as a Jewish state and blames assaults partly on incitement on social media. Palestinians say such assaults are the inevitable results of a virtually 55-year navy occupation that reveals no signal of ending.
