Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett has vowed an unrelenting war on terrorism after a shooting on Thursday night at a Tel Aviv bar left three Israelis dead and another three seriously wounded.
The Palestinian gunman, a 30-year-old from the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank, managed to flee immediately after the shooting, sparking a massive manhunt involving a thousand police and soldiers throughout the Tel Aviv area.
He was eventually found early on Friday morning close to a mosque in the mixed Arab-Jewish neighbourhood of Jaffa, 6km from the scene of the attack, and was killed in a shootout with Israeli security forces.
“I saw the terrorist’s father inciting to more violence, boasting of his son the murderer. We saw the rejoicing and the sweets handed out in Jenin and Gaza. These are the people we are dealing them. No, they are not a few,” Mr Bennett said.
“We are giving full freedom of action to the army and to all the security forces to stamp out terrorism. There are and will be no restrictions in this war.”
Two of the victims died at the Tel Aviv bar while the third, a 35-year-old who had represented Israel twice in kayaking at the Olympics, died of his wounds on Friday afternoon.
The shooting was the fourth serious attack in recent weeks. The attacks have left 14 people dead and dozens wounded. This marks the deadliest period of attacks in Israel since 2006, and poses a significant challenge for the government of Mr Bennett which this week lost its wafer-thin parliamentary majority after a lawmaker defected to the opposition. Opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu accused the government of “weakness” in face of the violence.
Ramadan
The Tel Aviv attack came the night before the first Friday prayers of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which has coincided with an upsurge in violent attacks in previous years.
Some 50,000 worshippers attended prayers at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s old city on Friday, known as Haram al Sharif to Muslims. The number was significantly lower than for Ramadan Friday prayers in previous years when more than 100,000 worshippers prayed at the site.
Some 3,000 Israeli police deployed in and around the old city, but the worshippers dispersed peacefully.
This year Ramadan coincides with both the Jewish festival of Passover – which starts next weekend – and Easter, causing a significant security challenge.
It is not believed that the Tel Aviv gunman was linked to a Palestinian militant group but both Hamas and the Islamic Jihad praised the shooting.
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas condemned the attack, warning that the killing of Palestinian and Israeli civilians only leads to further deterioration.
He also warned that such an incident may be used as an excuse by Israeli settlers to carry out attacks against Palestinians.