Three people were shot and injured Thursday night in Tel Aviv in an attack by a member of the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, who was shot dead by a police officer.
The shootings took place around 8:40 p.m. (1:40 p.m. EST) on the first evening of the Israeli weekend on the popular Dizengoff Avenue, popular with night owls, in the heart of Tel Aviv – where a Palestinian bombing had killed three people in April 2022 – as opponents of the government’s judicial reform bill demonstrated elsewhere in the city.
In a statement, Hamas claimed that the attack was carried out by a member of its armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades. Motaz Khawaja, 23, was from the town of Nilin, near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.
Without claiming “the operation”, Hamas describes Khawaja as a “heroic martyr” and presents his act as a “personal initiative”, and a “natural response to the crimes of the Israeli occupation”.
In Paris, the Quai d’Orsay condemned “with the greatest firmness” the attack, which occurs in a climate of high tension and a marked upsurge in violence linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since taking office at the end of December. , of one of the most right-wing governments in the history of Israel, under the leadership of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
Initially, the Magen David Adom, the Israeli equivalent of the Red Cross, had indicated that it had “evacuated three gunshot wounds, one in critical condition, one seriously injured, and one lightly”. The Ichilov Hospital later reported that the condition of the injured man initially announced as critical had improved.
According to Dean Elsdunne, police spokesman, “the terrorist began shooting at civilians [dans] coffee” before being chased and shot dead by police officers who “succeeded in preventing a much more serious attack from taking place”.
In a statement, Homeland Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir praised “the policeman who, in a brave act, eliminated the heinous terrorist and saved many lives.”
PHOTO JACK GUEZ, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
The shooter was shot dead by police on Thursday. However, he injured three people, one of whom was in critical condition when he was transported by ambulance.
“I heard gunshots and saw people running away. I immediately loaded my gun and ran” to the scene, said David Friedmann, a policeman who helped kill the assailant.
At one point, “I fired three bullets at him, [un collègue] also fired three shots, and when he fell he was shot again so he wouldn’t get up again,” he added.
“Normal reaction”
Reached by telephone by AFP in Nilin, Motaz Khawaja’s father, Salah Khawaja, saw in his son’s act “a normal reaction for any young person who sees the injustice and the killings committed by the army every day. Israeli”.
PHOTO JACK GUEZ, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
The police and the forensic team investigated the scene of the tragedy on Thursday in Tel Aviv.
Mr. Khawaja said his son was single and a shop manager in Nilin.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said he had given the order to “act immediately to destroy the terrorist’s house”. According to witnesses, Israeli soldiers broke into Motaz Khawaja’s house around midnight (5 p.m. ET on Thursday). The army confirmed to be “in operation” in Ilin.
On Thursday morning, three armed Palestinians, including two Islamic Jihad fighters, were killed during an Israeli military operation in the northern occupied West Bank. Islamic Jihad and Hamas promised to avenge those deaths.
On Tuesday, several Palestinian armed groups called for revenge for the deaths of six Palestinians (including the author of a fatal attack on two Israelis in late February, and at least three other fighters) killed in an Israeli army raid in the northern West Bank.
During a brief visit to Tel Aviv, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin pleaded Thursday for “de-escalation” as repeated UN calls for calm resound in the desert.
In Beitar Illit, a Jewish settlement in the West Bank southwest of Jerusalem, the army said deminers on Thursday evening blew up a suspicious package discovered on board a bus.
Since the beginning of the year, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has claimed the lives of 76 Palestinians (including members of armed groups and civilians, including minors), 12 civilians (including 3 minors) and one Israeli policeman, as well than a Ukrainian, according to an AFP tally compiled from official Israeli and Palestinian sources.