Israeli police and emergency services work around a car involved in an attack in Tel Aviv, Israel. (AP)

Netanyahu instructs police, Israeli forces to mobilise

Tel Aviv | An Italian tourist was killed and five other tourists were wounded in a Tel Aviv car ramming attack on Friday, Israeli and Italian officials said.

An Israeli security source identified the assailant as an Israeli Arab from the town of Kafr Qassem.

A police officer who was nearby arrived at the scene to find several people wounded and an overturned car near a popular Tel Aviv promenade. The officer “neutralised” the driver when he tried to pull a gun, police said.

The car had veered off the street near a popular bike and walking path along the beach. Reuters video from shortly after the incident showed a white car upside down on the grass of a park. Police cordoned off the area that was brimming with emergency responders.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani confirmed on Twitter that the man killed was Italian.

It was the second deadly attack on Friday, after two Israeli sisters were killed when their car was shot up in the occupied West Bank.

A US State Department spokesperson said on Friday that the US “strongly condemns today’s terrorist attacks. The three horrific attacks today, in which three were killed and at least eight others wounded, affected citizens of Israel, Italy, and the United Kingdom. The targeting of innocent civilians of any nationality is unconscionable.”

Read the article in the Financial Review (Reuters).