A Palestinian Bedouin was shot dead by a passerby after he reportedly carried out the attack, in which two others were injured.
A Palestinian man was fatally shot after he reportedly carried out a knife attack near a shopping mall in the southern Israeli city of Beer al-Sabe (Be’er Sheva), killing at least four people and wounding two others.
The alleged attacker was identified by local media as 33-year-old Ahmed al-Qiaan, a teacher who hails from the town of Hura in the Naqab region (Negev) and was detained for alleged links to the ISIL (ISIS) group. He was shot by a passer-by at a gas station, the Israeli police said on Tuesday.
“It appeared to be a single terrorist who went after a stabbing,” police spokesman Eli Levy told Channel 13 TV on Tuesday. “A civilian took the initiative and shot him.”
The wreckage of a car can be seen at the scene of the attack in a shopping district in Beer al-Sabe [Reuters]
Medics said three women and a man were killed by the attacker and at least two others were injured, one seriously.
Palestinian media reported that Israeli police raided Houra later Tuesday, closing roads and surrounding al-Qiaan’s residence. An Israeli court sentenced him to four years in prison in 2015 after accusing him of being an ISIL member.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s office said in a statement that security forces were “on high alert.”
“We will take vigorous action against terrorist operations. We will pursue and arrest those who have provided them with assistance,” the statement said.
Meanwhile, Hamas, the group that rules the occupied Gaza Strip, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad hailed the attack.
Four people were reportedly killed by the suspected attacker, who was later shot dead [Reuters]
Hamas spokesman Abdel-Latif al-Qanou said “occupation crimes” against the Palestinian people could only be answered with such “heroic acts.”
Islamic Jihad spokesman Tariq Salmi said the attack was “a natural response to the crimes committed by the occupation in the Naqab,” adding that Israel “will realize again that our people will not surrender.”
Palestinian Bedouins in the naqab have long faced discrimination as Israel advances plans to replace Bedouin villages with all-Jewish towns. Government services such as water, electricity and educational facilities are often denied to them.
About 300,000 Palestinian Bedouins with Israeli citizenship live in the region, which makes up about half of the country’s landmass.
At least 30 percent of them live in some 35 “unrecognized” villages facing demolition and are considered “invaders” by the Israeli government.
Israeli forces have regularly carried out demolition orders in the area, arguing that these villages do not have building permits, but residents said it was impossible to obtain legal planning permission.