Three dead in ax and gun attack in Israel
Police officers and paramedics at the crime scene in the city of Elad in the evening
Credit: AFP/AHMAD GHARABLI
At least three people have died in an attack in Israel. Authorities are looking for “one or two terrorists” who attacked their victims with a gun and an ax in Elad, east of Tel Aviv. Four other people were injured.
Nfter the most recent attack in the central Israeli city of Elad, which left three dead, the authorities launched a search for the perpetrators. With a large contingent of security forces, helicopters, drones and roadblocks, the authorities were looking for “a terrorist or two” on Friday morning. Defense Secretary Benny Gantz announced measures to prevent the attackers from “fleeing” to the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli rescue service Magen David Adom (MDA) said four people were injured in the attack on Thursday. According to the police, the attacks took place in several places. The police initially gave no information about the circumstances of the attack or the identity of the perpetrators. Several media reported that the attackers were armed with knives or an ax. Other reports mentioned firearms.
“We will get our hands on the terrorists and make them pay the price,” Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said. Gantz announced that the West Bank lockdown would remain in effect until Sunday.
According to MDA paramedic Alon Riskan, who was one of the first on the scene, the three dead were males in their 40s. Most of the 50,000 residents of the city of Elad, on the eastern outskirts of Tel Aviv, are ultra-Orthodox Jews. Hundreds of them gathered at the crime scene.
In recent weeks there have been repeated deadly attacks by Palestinians and Arab Israelis. At the end of March, five people were killed in a gun attack in the mostly ultra-Orthodox town of Bnei Brak near Tel Aviv.
Israel celebrated its 74th Independence Day on Thursday. Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid condemned the “murderous attack in Elad”. The joy of the holiday was destroyed within a short time.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken tweeted that the US “strongly condemns today’s terrorist attack in Israel.” Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned “the killing of Israeli civilians” in Elad and warned it could lead to a spiral of violence.
The radical Islamist Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, welcomed the alleged attack. “This operation shows the anger of our people at the occupiers’ attacks on holy sites,” said Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem. “The storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque must not go unpunished.”
Tensions between Israel and the Palestinians have increased significantly in recent weeks. Only on Thursday was there another clash between Palestinians and Israeli security forces on the Temple Mount at the Al-Aqsa Mosque. There have been regular riots there since April, leaving hundreds injured.
Israel has also been rocked by a series of anti-Israel attacks for weeks. From March 22 to Thursday, 15 people were killed. During operations by the Israeli security forces in the occupied West Bank, among other places, 27 Palestinians and three Arab Israelis were killed, including several suspected assassins.
Palestinians commemorate Israel’s founding day as the “Nakba” (catastrophe) because more than 700,000 people had to flee or were displaced as a result of Israel’s founding in 1948.