This morning, Israeli forces shot down the man who, in one of the city’s busiest streets on Thursday night, killed, at the time, two people in a Tel Aviv bar. Following the attack, a third victim’s life was claimed. As a result, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett gave security forces “full freedom” to act after the attack.
The attack marks the fourteenth life taken in a string of break-out attacks that have put most Israelis on edge. The shooting took place at the Ilka bar on Dizengoff Street, a main thoroughfare full of restaurants and bars in the heart of Tel Aviv, before escaping. After the initial attack, more than one thousand Israeli police, army special forces, and the Shin Bet intelligence flooded the city.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the attack and stressed the dangers of “continuing the repeated incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque and the provocative actions of extremist settler groups.” However, the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, praised the attack.
The two men killed at the bar were childhood friends Eytam Magini and Tomer Morad, aged 27. A 35-year-old father of three died in hospital on Friday. He was one of twelve people wounded.
Addressing her people in Tel Aviv, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said in a rarely shared statement with the defense and internal security ministers that Israeli forces were on high alert late Thursday night into early Friday morning. She noted that forces nationwide will have “no restrictions” in their fight to “eradicate terrorism.”
After taking the lives of innocents, 28-year-old Raad Hazem went into hiding. Officials took out an hours-long search through the city in hopes of condemning the killer. As police hunted and searched, they advised the public to remain inside their homes. As hundreds of Israeli security officers, assisted by a helicopter with a spotlight, combed the streets to speed up the search and avoid mistaking innocents for the killer.
Israeli forces found Hazem hiding near a mosque in the port of Jaffa, about four miles (6km) away from the attacks. Hazem was eventually killed in a shootout with counter-terrorism and security agents.
These are the deadliest attacks on Israel since 2006. Fears continue to surge in Israel due to the week of Ramadan, the Jewish festival of Passover, and the Christian festival of Easter, all coinciding. Many believe that the praisers of these events are the ones who are taking part in them.
