At least five died near Tel Aviv in new attacks
For the third time in a week, an attack took place on Israeli territory, this time killing at least five people near Tel Aviv.
The attack took place in the ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak, a suburb of Tel Aviv, then in the neighboring city of Ramat Gan.
AFP
At least five people were killed Tuesday in armed attacks near the Israeli metropolis of Tel Aviv, the third in a week in Israel, confronted by a wave of violence that worries authorities as Ramadan approaches. In the evening, residents of Bnei Brak, an ultra-Orthodox city on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, then the neighboring city of Ramat Gan, reported a man driving a car and opening fire on passers-by.
Police said they shot the perpetrator without revealing his identity. But local media identified him as Dia Hamarshah, a Palestinian who had spent four years in Israeli prisons and came from Yaabad on the occupied West Bank.
In Yaabad, witnesses told AFP that men handed out sweets in the evening as a “party” after the attacks. The police were inserted in force in Bnei Brak, where Itamar Ben Gvir, one of the leaders of the Israeliest right, moved according to AFP journalists on site.
“Fight against terrorism” mode
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett gathered senior security officials in the evening after the attacks, which killed at least five people, including an officer who took part in the operation to kill the assailant, according to police and emergency services. The nationality of all the victims was not immediately specified.
‘The security forces are at work. We want to fight terrorism with an iron fist (…) Israel is facing a wave of deadly Arab terrorism, “said Naftali Bennett. The two previous attacks, on March 22 and Sunday, were committed by Israeli Arabs linked to jihadists. Police have indicated they are on alert and in the “fight against terrorism”.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday condemned a rare condemnation of the attacks. “The killing of Palestinian and Israeli civilians only exacerbates the situation as we all strive for stability,” he said in a statement from the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.
In response to Tuesday night’s unwarranted attack, the ruling Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in Gaza said in a statement that “this operation is a natural response to the occupation’s crimes against our people and our country and the rights of our holy places.
“Fight against terrorism” mode
On Sunday in Hadera, in northern Israel, two police officers, including a French-Israeli, were killed in a shooting claimed by the jihadist organization Islamic State (IS). It was hailed by Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the other Palestinian armed Islamist movement and Lebanese Hezbollah.
Hamas then assessed that the attack had been “carried out in response to the normalization summit in our country”, citing an unprecedented meeting held on Sunday and Monday on Israeli soil between diplomatic leaders, US, Israeli and four Arab countries. Israeli police identified the assailants who were shot as Arab Israeli agents from the IS group, who came from Umm al-Fahm, an Arab city in northern Israel, where authorities made stiff-arm arrests.
On March 22, in Beersheva (south), four Israelis – two men and two women – were killed in a knife and ram attack committed by a man inspired by the ideology of the IS group. The assailant who was shot and killed was a teacher who in 2016 was sentenced to four years in prison for planning to travel to Syria to fight for IS.
Reduce the voltage
Abroad, Germany has warned of a “spiral of violence” following the attacks near Tel Aviv. These take place at a time when meetings are rising in an attempt to ease tensions as Ramadan approaches, the Muslim fasting month, which is to begin at the end of the week.
In 2021, clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinian protesters during Ramadan in Jerusalem, especially on the mosque esplanade, led to a deadly 11-day war between Hamas, in power in Gaza, and the Israeli army.
Defense Minister Benny Gantz held talks with Jordanian King Abdullah II in Amman on Tuesday ahead of a similar visit on Wednesday by Israeli President Isaac Herzog. In front of Benny Gantz, the king called for “to remove any obstacle to the prayer of Muslims on the esplanade of mosques (in East Jerusalem) and to prevent provocations that could lead to an escalation”, the Royal Palace stated.
According to a press release from his services, Benny Gantz discussed with the king “measures that Israel intends to take to guarantee the freedom to pray in Jerusalem” and in the West Bank, a Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967, during Ramadan. .
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