Tel Aviv: Israeli security forces hunted down and killed a Palestinian man on Friday who had opened fire into a crowded bar in central Tel Aviv, killing two and wounding over 10 in an attack that caused scenes of mass panic in the heart of the bustling city.
It was the fourth deadly attack in Israel by Palestinians in three weeks. Later in the day, thousands of Palestinian women, children and men aged over 40 from the occupied West Bank were set to enter Jerusalem for the first Friday prayers of the holy month of Ramadan at the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Tens of thousands were expected to attend, and thousands of police were to be mobilised for the gatherings. It was not clear how the shooting would affect those plans. During Ramadan last year, protests and clashes eventually ignited a war that lasted 11 days, after Israeli police entered the mosque and loudspeaker cables to prevent calls to prayer drowning out a speech by the president nearby.
The mosque is the third-holiest site in Islam and sits on a hilltop that is the most sacred site for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount. The holy site has long been a flashpoint for Israeli-Palestinian violence.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett was set to convene with top security officials. Last week he urged citizens who were licensed to carry their guns.
“We will widen our actions against the wave of terror through offence, defence and intelligence,” Defence Minister Benny Gantz said ahead of the meeting. “The price that we will extract from the attackers and those who send them will be heavy.”
Read the article by Ariel Schalit and Joseph Krauss in The Sydney Morning Herald.