Israeli police have shot and killed a gunman who opened fire on a crowded street in Tel Aviv, wounding three people. The attack, which was caught on camera, took place hours after three Palestinian militants were killed in a shootout with Israeli security forces in the West Bank.
The gunman fired into a crowd at the intersection of Dizengoff Street and Ben Gurion Street on Thursday evening, as the area was packed with Israelis celebrating the start of the weekend. Three people were hit, with one suffering critical injuries, the Magen David Adom ambulance service stated.
Photos and videos shared on social media showed the suspect brandishing a pistol, and caught the moment he was cut down by a hail of police bullets. Israeli police said shortly afterwards that the attacker, whom they described as a “terrorist,” was “neutralized.”
Initial Israeli media reports suggested that an accomplice fled the scene, although this has not been confirmed by police as of Thursday night.
Abd al-Latif al-Kanua, a spokesman for Palestinian militant group Hamas, described the attack as “an initial response to the crimes of the occupation, the last of which was the murder of three young people this morning,” the Times of Israel reported.
The three people in question were allegedly affiliated with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group. According to Israeli police, they opened fire on Israeli troops during a raid on the West Bank village of Jaba on Thursday morning, and were shot dead. The raid and subsequent attack are the latest in a series of tit-for-tat strikes since Israel’s right-wing prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, returned to power in late December.
Netanyahu’s government has authorized the construction of thousands of new Israeli homes on Palestinian land, legalized several existing Jewish outposts, and appointed Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich – a hardline Zionist – to oversee most civilian issues in the West Bank.