Shooting in Israel pub leaves two dead, others seriously injured

At least two people were killed and eight others injured when a gunman opened fire in a Tel Aviv pub, as Israel endures a rash of terrorist attacks.

Forensics experts comb the scene of the shooting in Tel Aviv on Thursday. Picture: AFP

At least two people were killed and eight others injured when a gunman opened fire in a central Tel Aviv pub, in what appears to be Israel’s fourth terrorist attack in a little over two weeks.

The attack occurred on the popular Dizengoff Street, where bars and cafes were packed at the start of the Israeli weekend, which begins on Thursday night.

“This incident is still happening … do not come to the scene,” police spokesman Eli Levi said.

More than 1000 members of Israeli security forces, including police, regular and special military forces, ran from scene to scene looking for the gunman.

“It was packed,” Mr Levi said. “We are going from business to business, home to home to check if any terrorist is hiding.”

The gunman was killed on Friday morning in a shootout with security forces. The Shin Bet security agency said agents and special forces found the attacker “hiding near a mosque in Jaffa”, referring to the historically Arab quarter of Tel Aviv.

Israeli public radio identified the alleged attacker as a man in his late 20s from the Jenin refugee camp on the West Bank.

Security forces rush to the scene of a shooting attack in Tel Aviv. Picture: AFP

The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, and the Islamic Jihad welcomed the attack.

Witnesses told Agence France-Presse that they heard gunfire and saw scenes of chaos. “It’s an atmosphere of war. Soldiers and police are everywhere … they searched the restaurant, and people are crying,” said Binyamin Blum, who works in a restaurant near the scene.

Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv said it was treating four people with serious injuries from the attack, as well as two injured moderately and two lightly.

Israel has been hit by a wave of terrorist attacks in which 11 people have been killed since March 22. Israeli security forces were already on high alert in response to two attacks in recent days by Arab citizens of Israel who were inspired by Islamic State, according to Israeli security officials and one Palestinian from the West Bank. The attacks, though they occurred in the span of a week, weren’t connected, but possibly inspired by each other, the officials said.

An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man reacts while holding a volume of the Book of Psalms while security forces gather behind at the scene of a shooting attack in Dizengoff Street in the centre of Israel's Mediterranean coastal city of Tel Aviv. Picture: AFP

Israel’s police and military had significantly boosted their presence in Tel Aviv due to the previous attacks.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett travelled to the country’s military headquarters in central Tel Aviv to follow the situation.

Sirens blared in central Tel Aviv as police and ambulances raced to the scene of the attacks, and soldiers and police could be seen running with guns drawn. Videos posted to social media showed people in the streets calling out to bystanders to draw their weapons. Mr Bennett told Israelis to carry weapons after the terrorist attacks in the past few weeks.

Israeli security officials have worried that tension could boil over in Jerusalem, where tens of thousands of Palestinians are expected to travel to the al-Aqsa Mosque for the first Friday prayers of the holy month of Ramadan.

Israel earlier this week said it would allow all Palestinian women, children and men over age 50 to go to the Aqsa Mosque for Friday prayers, but said the ­approval would depend on the ­security situation.

The Wall Street Journal