JERUSALEM (AP) — A gunman on a motorcycle opened fire late Tuesday in a crowded city in central Israel, killing at least four people in the second mass shooting this week. The shooter was killed by police.
Although the circumstances were not immediately clear, the shooting appeared to be the latest in a series of attacks by Arab attackers ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the anniversary of last year’s Gaza war. Israeli media said the attacker was a West Bank Palestinian. The previous two attacks, carried out by Arab citizens of Israel inspired by the Islamic State extremist group, have raised concerns of further violence.
Tuesday’s shootings occurred in two locations in Bnei Brak, an ultra-Orthodox town east of Tel Aviv. Police said in a statement that a preliminary investigation found the gunman was armed with an assault rifle and opened fire on bystanders before being shot dead by officers at the scene.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett called an emergency meeting of senior security officials later Tuesday.
Bennett said in a statement that Israel is “facing a wave of murderous Arab terrorism” and vowed to fight it “with tenacity, tenacity and an iron fist.” Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz wrote on Twitter that the security forces “will work by all means to restore security to Israeli streets and the sense of security of civilians.”
Israeli media reported that the suspected gunman was a 27-year-old Palestinian from the northern West Bank city of Yabad. The police initially gave no information about the suspect.
Amateur videos aired on Israeli television appeared to show a gunman in a black shirt, armed with an assault rifle, firing at a moving vehicle.
On Sunday, two gunmen killed two young police officers in a rampage in downtown Hadera, and last week a lone gunman killed four people in a car ram and knife attack in the southern city of Beersheba.
Earlier Tuesday, Israeli security services searched the homes of at least 12 Arab citizens and arrested two suspected of links to the Islamic State group in a crackdown sparked by the recent deadly attacks.
Hours before the raid, Bennett said the recent attacks in Israel were a “new situation” that required heightened security measures.
Police officials said 31 homes and locations were raided overnight in northern Israel, an area where the gunmen who carried out the Hadera attack lived.
The terrorist militia Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the two previous attacks.
Israeli leaders condemned the killings and pointed to the timing. Both attacks came ahead of Ramadan, which begins later this week, and as Israel hosted a high-level meeting between the foreign ministers of four Arab nations and the United States this week. All four Arab nations – Egypt, Morocco, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates – as well as the United States condemned the killings.
Ramadan is expected to start on Saturday. Last year, clashes between Israeli police and Muslim protesters during the holy month sparked an 11-day war between Israel and Hamas, the militant Islamic group that rules the Gaza Strip. Hamas hailed the shooting as a “heroic operation.”
Israel has taken steps this year to ease tensions with the Palestinians to avoid a repeat of the violence. Deadly ISIS attacks inside Israel and attacks by Arab citizens of Israel are rare.
The group operates mainly in Iraq and Syria, where it has recently increased its attacks on security forces. It no longer controls territory but operates through sleeper cells. ISIS has alleged attacks against Israeli forces in the past and has branches in Afghanistan and other countries.