Two dead in Tel Aviv: Another serious attack on civilians

Two people were killed in an attack in Tel Aviv. A man had shot patrons of a pub in the center of the city. The alleged perpetrator was killed by security forces early in the morning.

The weekend begins for the Israelis on Thursday evening. The bars and restaurants on Dizengoff Street, a shopping and dining area in the center of the city, were full and the temperatures were mild. Lots of people were sitting outside the bars. Shots were fired around 9 p.m. local time.

A young man was walking and hours later lay injured on a stretcher at a hospital when a team from Reuters news agency questioned him. “I went north,” he says. “As we passed a bar, shots were fired. I saw the window shatter and felt a pain in my back.” He ran away and only then did a friend see how badly he was bleeding. “He said I had to lie down. Neighbors helped, called an ambulance and treated me, stopped the bleeding. The ambulance then took me here.”

The shooter apparently fired indiscriminately at guests

According to eyewitnesses, a lone gunman fired a handgun, apparently indiscriminately, at guests at a bar. Two men, aged 27 and 28, later died from their injuries. More than a dozen people were injured, some seriously. The police were initially not sure whether it was one or more perpetrators. Hundreds of emergency services – including special units and soldiers – searched the area.

The investigators suspect a terrorist background. Police spokesman Ami Ben David said shortly after the crime: “Hundreds of people are still here on Dizengoff Street. Some are walking around. Others are still in pubs and restaurants. As long as the situation is unclear, we call on everyone: stay at home, hear the news and wait till we say it’s over.”

“We will do it this time too”

Residents have been asked to stay home and stay away from windows. The search for the perpetrator was unsuccessful for a long time. A shootout broke out early in the morning in Jaffa, just a few kilometers from the scene of the crime, and the perpetrator was shot dead by special forces. According to media reports, it is said to be a Palestinian from the West Bank. During the night, the investigators published a photo of a young man that is supposed to show the shooter shortly before the crime.

Tel Aviv Mayor Run Huldai came to the scene of the crime late in the evening. “We’ve been in this reality for a hundred years now, where we’re seeing incidents like this,” he said. “They are trying to hit us, to destroy our routine, our everyday life. We have survived something like this and much worse in the past and we will manage it again this time.”

Fourth major attack in two weeks

It was the fourth major attack in Israel’s heartland in about two weeks, and again civilians were targeted. A total of eleven people died in the previous attacks. The security forces were already on high alert before the shooting in Tel Aviv. As with the other attacks, the militant Palestinian groups Islamic Jihad and Hamas welcomed the attack in Tel Aviv, but did not claim responsibility for it. The Israeli security authorities fear further attacks.