Terror again visited the Israeli capital of Tel Aviv late Tuesday (March 29) when a Palestinian gunman opened fire at passers-by and vehicles killing five people in the third shooting or knife attack in a week.
This has prompted the police to raise its alert level nationwide to “the highest it has been since the fighting in Gaza in 2021”.
The shooting took place in the city of Bnei Brak, a crowded suburb of Tel Aviv and the shooter was shot dead by police during the incident. As of now, no group has claimed responsibility for the attack as this is the third deadly one in Israel in a week.
After the terrorist was killed, police Spokesman Eli Levi told the state-owned Kan TV news that the shooter was armed with an M-16 rifle. The police also released a statement wherein the shooter was a Palestinian resident from the occupied West Bank who stayed in Israel without permits.
A news report by Kan TV, the attacker was a 27-year-old man who was previously convicted of illegal arms trade and served about six months in prison before being released in late 2015.
Thousands of police officers are now being deployed to guard schools, kindergartens, bus stations, and crowded places across the country, said a police statement.
In the following days, most of the police efforts will be put into “fighting terror, increasing their presence in the streets and securing the civilian population,” it said.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said, “Israel is facing a wave of murderous Arab terrorism and the security forces are at work”. He added, “We will fight terrorism with persistence, diligence, and an iron fist,”.
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