Palestinian shooting attack in downtown Tel Aviv critically injures 1

JERUSALEM (AP) — A Palestinian gunman on Saturday opened fire in central Tel Aviv, critically wounding an Israeli police inspector before he was shot and killed by police, authorities said.

The attack came a day after a settler rampage in the occupied West Bank killed one Palestinian, deepening the spiral of violence that has gripped the region for the past year and a half.

Police identified the gunman as Kamel Abu Bakr, from a village near the flashpoint city of Jenin in the northern West Bank.

Jenin’s refugee camp last month was the site of the largest Israeli offensive in the West Bank in nearly two decades. Twelve Palestinians, including at least eight militants, and one Israeli soldier, were killed in the fighting, which forced thousands to flee their homes and left large swaths of the camp in ruins.

lsraeli police said that municipal inspectors noticed Bakr, and, believing he was acting suspiciously, approached him. They said Bakr then opened fire, wounding a 40-year-old inspector. An inspector then shot the attacker. Bakr later died at Ichilov Hospital, according to hospital officials.

Amateur video circulated online of police and civilians running through the cafe-lined streets in the seaside metropolis.

The Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad both issued statements praising the attack.

The shooting came one day after a settler rampage in a village in the northern West Bank. Late on Friday, armed settlers entered Burqa, a herding village east of the city of Ramallah, shooting and killing 19-year-old Qusai Matan, Palestinian health officials said.

Israeli police said Saturday that they had arrested two Israeli settlers in connection with the attack.

Israeli media reported that one of the arrested settlers used to work as an aide, who remained unnamed, for a lawmaker of the far-right Israeli “Jewish Power” party which is in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition of ultranationalist and ultraorthodox parties in the Israeli parliament. It includes Itamar Ben-Gvir, a pro-settlement firebrand known for hardline positions against Palestinians who is now the country’s national security minister, overseeing the national police force.

The party couldn’t be reached for comment.

Police said they arrested two settlers after detaining five for questioning. The other settler who was arrested was hospitalized after sustaining injuries Friday night. Authorities did not elaborate on the charges.

The army said that Israeli settlers arrived in the area to herd sheep, leading to clashes between Israelis and Palestinians from the village. Both sides hurled rocks at each other, the army said, and Israelis fired at Palestinians, leaving Matai dead and four Palestinians and several Israelis injured by rocks.

The village was closed down and more Israeli troops were stationed in the area surrounding it.

Palestinian officials said the settlers also burned two cars in the village. They also called for the perpetrators to be punished.

The rampage drew criticism from the U.K. Embassy in Israel, which wrote on social media that it was “appalled” by the settler attacks and called for accountability and justice for those involved.

Yair Lapid, an opposition leader in the Israeli parliament, said that violent settler attacks in the West Bank endanger other settlers, describing most as “law-abiding civilians.” He added that the attacks are emboldened by members of Netanyahu’s coalition.

“The backing they receive from the most extreme coalition in the country’s history is a political attack,” he wrote on the platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

Violence has spiraled in the northern West Bank with the rise of shooting attacks by Palestinian groups against Israelis and daily arrest raids by the Israeli military, and growing attacks by extremist Jewish settlers.

The surge in fighting is one of the worst between Israelis and Palestinians in nearly two decades. More than 150 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the start of 2023 in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, according to a tally by The Associated Press.

Israel says most killed have been militants, but stone-throwing youths protesting army raids and innocent bystanders have also been killed.