Three people were injured in a gun attack in Tel Aviv on Thursday. As the city was the epicenter of anti-government protests, Israeli Police early Friday morning accidentally reported that one of the previously wounded had died. “A 23-year-old Palestinian terrorist shot three innocent civilians in Tel Aviv. The civilians were injured to varying degrees and are receiving medical treatment at the hospital,” the police said in a statement. A body spokesperson confirmed to EFE that this statement was made as a “correction” to a previous statement stating that one of the injured had died.
The attacker “opened fire in front of a cafeteria on foot, injuring three civilians. Two police officers and two civilians who were in the area” they confronted the terrorist and killed him. Police Commissioner Yakov Shabtai told police that their quick response prevented the shooting from injuring more civilians.
The al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamist Hamas movement, claimed responsibility for the attack and identified the attacker as Muataz Billah al Jawaja, a Palestinian living in the occupied West Bank. “The heroic 23-year-old Al Jawaja, a prisoner released from the city of Ni’lin, west of Ramallah, carried out an armed attack in the occupied city of ‘Tel Aviv’,” the brigades said in a statement. Qassam is a group considered terrorist by Israel, the United States and the European Union. The militia said the attack was “in response to the intensifying daily crimes of the (Israeli) occupation against Palestinian towns, cities and holy sites at the brute incitement of the occupying fascist government”.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is on an official visit to Italy, referred to the attack in his statement. “There was another terrorist attack in the heart of Tel Aviv tonight (…) We will continue to build our nation and deepen our roots,” he said. Netanyahu, who has headed the most right-wing government in Israeli history since last December, along with his ultra-nationalist and ultra-Orthodox partners, frequently refers to the expansion of Jewish settler settlements in the occupied West Bank when he speaks of “deepening one’s inner self.” roots.”
Daoud Shehab, leader of Islamic Jihad in Gaza, said the attack “coincided with the decision to cancel the evacuation of four settlements in the West Bank”. Palestinians prepare for massive outburst of anger against settlements“.
Meanwhile, an Israeli Army spokesperson reported that the troops “operated in the residence of the terrorist who carried out the attack in the city of Ni’lin.” Israeli authorities often destroying the homes of the attackers’ families Palestinians have been widely criticized by international human rights organizations, who view the practice as collective punishment.
protests
The attack, which took place on Dizengoff Street in the heart of Tel Aviv, occurred as thousands took to the streets of that city to demonstrate against the judicial reform that Netanyahu promoted. The organizers of the protests and the mayor of Tel Aviv will urge participants to stop the marches and “go home”.
Videos circulating on social networks show many people sitting outside a cafeteria stunned by the shooting. The alleged assailant is then shown trying to flee down an alley amid a barrage of gunfire by uniformed officers and civilians.
Israeli Magen David Adom emergency services transported three injured people to Ichilov Hospital: one in critical condition and unconscious, one in serious condition and one in moderate condition. In addition, United Hatzalah paramedics treated “large numbers of people for emotional shock and psychological stress.”
Tom Nides, the US Ambassador to Israel, said he was “shocked by the brazen terrorist attack targeting innocent people in Tel Aviv”. On the other hand, the Israeli Army reported that “a suspicious object was found on a bus in Betar Illit,” a Jewish settlement in the center of the occupied West Bank, and agents specializing in defusing explosives were sent to the area. deactivate the device. .
On the same Thursday, Israeli forces killed three Palestinians in a gunfight in a new raid on a Palestinian village in the northern West Bank. The Palestinian-Israeli conflict is experiencing a serious escalation of violence Nearly a hundred dead since the beginning of 2023. In addition to deadly attacks by Palestinians and Jewish settlers, continued Israeli army raids in the occupied West Bank, which led to clashes with militants, have killed at least 75 Palestinians and 14 people in Palestine. The Israeli side, mostly civilians.