Bloody wave of terror in Israel: The third attack in a week killed five people on Tuesday. This was confirmed by a spokesperson for the Zaka rescue service. According to police, a man armed with a gun opened fire on bystanders in Bnei Brak, near Tel Aviv. He shot first in one street and then in another. The officers then shot him, he said.
According to Israeli media reports, he was a Palestinian from the West Bank. After the attack, the mayor of Bnei Brak asked residents not to leave their homes. There was initially speculation about possible other assassins. Several ambulances and police forces were seen at the scene. An employee of the Zaka rescue service told the German press agency that the sight at the scene was “shocking”. “I saw four people dead on the street.” He treated a man with gunshot wounds, the paramedic said.
That means eleven Israelis died in attacks in one week. Two police officers and two assassins were killed in an attack in the coastal town of Hadera on Sunday. The perpetrators were Israeli Arabs from the north of the country. A week ago, four people were killed in another terrorist attack in Be’er Sheva (Beersheva), in southern Israel, two men and two women. The assassin, a Bedouin from the Negev desert, was shot dead by bystanders.
“War in Israel”
In a video message, members of the Al-Aqsa Brigades in Jenin praised the attack. One of the three hooded men announced in Hebrew a “war on the entire State of Israel”. The Al-Aqsa Brigades are the military wing of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement. However, it is a loose network with no clear hierarchy, local groups often act on their own.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced an emergency meeting with senior security officials to discuss the situation. “We will fight terrorism with an iron fist,” he said. “Israel faces a deadly wave of Arab terrorism.”
Israeli opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu wrote on Twitter on Tuesday that it was “a sad and difficult night”. Israel is “at the height of a dangerous wave of terror the likes of which we have not seen in years”. He called for decisive action “to restore calm and security to the citizens of Israel”.
Abbas condemns attacks
Abbas condemned the attacks on Tuesday. “The death of Palestinian and Israeli civilians will only make the situation worse,” Abbas said, according to a statement carried by the Wafa news agency in the evening. Instead, what is needed is “comprehensive and just peace.”
At first, no one claimed responsibility for the crime. However, radical Islamist Hamas expressed understanding: “This operation is a natural response to the occupation’s crimes against the rights of our people, our country and our holy places,” it said in a statement. After the attack in Bnei Brak, Palestinians spontaneously celebrated in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, as well as in Lebanon.
Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg (ÖVP) was “deeply shocked” by “another heinous terrorist attack” in Israel within days. “Austria is firmly on Israel’s side,” Schallenberg said on the short message service Twitter in the evening. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell also condemned the act on behalf of the European Union. “We stand with Israel at this difficult time,” he said in a statement. (apa)