Israel has gone into a heightened state of alert after three terror attacks within a week left 11 people dead and spread fear throughout the country.
The police have declared the highest level of alert and are being bolstered with 1,000 combat soldiers, who will serve along the West Bank border and in Israeli cities.
Extra troops have also been deployed in the West Bank and along the Gaza border.
#Ireland strongly condemns terrorist attacks in #Israel in recent days. Terrorism and violence is never justified and must stop. Our thoughts and condolences are with
— Simon Coveney (@simoncoveney) March 30, 2022
the victims and their loved ones. @dfatirl @irishmissionun
Defence minister Benny Gantz said the security establishment would focus on locating potential attackers on social media, foiling attempts by Palestinians to enter Israel illegally and preventing the purchase of weapons.
In the latest incident, on Tuesday night, a Palestinian gunman from the West Bank killed five people in a shooting spree in Bnei Brak, an ultra-Orthodox neighbourhood of Tel Aviv, aiming at passers-by, drivers and residents standing on their balconies. Two of the dead were local ultra-Orthodox residents, two were Ukrainians and one was a member of a police motorcycle unit who rushed to the scene to confront the gunman, who was shot dead by his colleague.
The two previous attacks, in the cities of Beersheba and Hadera, had been carried out by Arab residents of Israel linked to the Islamic State terror group.
The Palestinian gunman was a member of Fatah, the group led by Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, who condemned the Bnei Brak attack, saying the murder of Israeli or Palestinian civilians would only lead to a deterioration of the situation.
Hamas, the militant group that runs Gaza, praised the attack, calling it a “blessed and heroic operation against the Zionist occupation”.
Wave of terror
With Israelis fearing the attacks mark could mark the start of another prolonged wave of terror in civilian centres, prime minister Naftali Bennett held a series of security consultations to weigh Israel’s response and try to prevent the situation spiralling out of control.
Land Day, the first potential flashpoint, marked by Israeli Arabs and Palestinians on Wednesday to protest Israeli land confiscations, passed off relatively peacefully with only minor protests.
However, the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, traditionally a period of heightened tension, starts this weekend, and this year the fast month coincides with both the Jewish week-long Passover festival and the Easter holiday, creating a major headache for the Israeli security forces, particularly in Jerusalem.
Some 3,000 police will deploy in Jerusalem during Ramadan Friday prayers.
The terror attacks mark the first significant security challenge Mr Bennett has faced since he took office last June. “Israel is facing a wave of murderous Arab terrorism,” he said. “The security forces are operating. We will fight terrorism persistently, tenaciously and with an iron hand.”
Foreign minister Yair Lapid on Wednesday warned against letting anger over the recent terror attacks divide Israeli society, saying that such divisions were exactly what the terrorists sought.
“The goal of terrorism is not only to strike innocents but to cause us to hate and be angry at one another,” he said. “To undermine, and to pull apart Israeli society from within.”