‘Terror in Tel Aviv’ as six die after gunman opened fire indiscriminately on busy street – World News

A suspected terrorist opened fire on a busy street in the Israeli capital Tel Aviv, killing at least five people in a random attack before being shot dead by armed police

A gunman has killed at least five people after opening fire in a random attack on a busy Tel Aviv street before being shot dead by armed police.

Footage shows the suspected terrorist pointing a gun at passers-by, including a car and a person on a bicycle, walking down a street in Bnei Brak, an ultra-Orthodox suburb of the Israeli capital.

The national emergency services confirmed the six dead in the third deadly attack in Israel in a week.

“Israel is facing a wave of murderous Arab terror,” Prime Minister Naftali Bennett tweeted after the shooting.

The attack brought the number of people killed by Arab gunmen in Israel in the past week to 11, the sharpest increase in attacks on the city’s streets in years.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the attacks, stressing that killing Israelis and Palestinians would only worsen the situation – and warned against retaliatory attacks, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

Palestinians report a rise in settler violence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which Israel captured in the 1967 war.

Amateur videos broadcast by Israeli TV stations showed the suspected terrorist, dressed in black, walking down a street in Bnei Brak with an assault rifle.

Witnesses said the gunman fired at the balconies of the apartments, and then at people on the street and in a car.

“I live on Hashneim Street in Bnei Brak and was at home when I heard gunshots,” paramedic Menachem Englander said, according to a tweet posted by Magen David Adom.

“I immediately went out onto the street and saw a terrorist pointing a gun at me. Miraculously his gun jammed and he couldn’t shoot.”

Israeli media, citing unidentified security officials, report that the attacker was a Palestinian from a village near the occupied West Bank city of Jenin.

Police said he killed four civilians and one officer, who arrived at the scene before officers fatally shot the gunman.

There was no immediate admission of responsibility for the attack.

Israeli officials had warned of an increase in attacks ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in April, a time when violence has historically increased.

Last year, during Ramadan, nightly clashes erupted between Palestinians and Israeli police and settlers.

Police raids on the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and a ban on evening gatherings at the Damascus Gate helped ignite violence between Israel and Gaza militants, which led to 11 days of Palestinian rocket attacks and Israeli airstrikes.

Last week, an Arab citizen of Israel killed four people in a knife and autoram attack in the southern city of Beersheba before being shot dead by a passerby. Israeli authorities said he was an Islamic State sympathizer.

On Sunday, as an Israeli-Arab summit was convened in southern Israel, an Arab attacker shot dead two police officers in Hadera, a town about 50 km (30 miles) north of Tel Aviv. Other officers shot and killed him.

The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack on Hadera.