Israel: Palestinian gunman killed after deadly attack at Tel Aviv bar
ISRAELI security forces have killed a Palestinian who opened fire at a bar in Tel Aviv, killing two people and wounding 12 others, police say.
The man, from Jenin in the occupied West Bank, was tracked down to nearby Jaffa and died in a shootout.
Hours earlier he had attacked people at the bar on Dizengoff Street, one of the busiest streets in Tel Aviv, sparking a night-long manhunt.
It was the latest in a spate of attacks in Israel which have killed 13 people.
The gunman, identified as Raad Hazem, 29, was later found hiding near a mosque about four miles (6km) away. He was killed after a brief gun battle with counter-terrorism and security agents.
Officials said over 1,000 members of the Israeli police, army special forces and the Shin Bet intelligence service were involved in the search.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who was at defence headquarters in Tel Aviv close to the scene of the shooting when it unfolded, is meeting security chiefs on Friday morning.
The attack happened around 21:30 (18:30 GMT) on Thursday evening at Ilka bar.
“I was heading north and as we were passing by a bar shots started outside the bar,” Mark Malfiev, one of those injured in the shooting, told the BBC.
“I saw the window shattering, suddenly people started running and I felt a back pain,” he said. “I did not know there was an injury. I was just walking and then I felt a lot of blood, I saw blood. Then I turned right after a run and a friend looked and saw there was a lot of blood.”
Video from Dizengoff Street
showed people running away as emergency vehicles poured into the area, sirens wailing. CCTV footage showed people drinking then suddenly dashing away at the moment of the attack, overturning chairs in the scramble to escape.
Israel’s allies were quick to condemn the attack. UK Foreign
Secretary Liz Truss tweeted that she was “appalled” by the violence, while US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the Biden administration stands with Israel “resolutely in the face of senseless terrorism and violence”.
Israel’s security forces were already on a high state of alert after a spate of deadly attacks in recent days. -