By Joseph Krauss
Associated Press
Israeli security forces hunted down and killed a Palestinian man who allegedly opened fire on a crowded bar in central Tel Aviv early Friday, killing two and wounding more than 10 in an attack that sparked heart-stopping panic. from the bustling city.
The attack was the fourth in Israel by Palestinians in three weeks, and came at a time of
tension around the start of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan
.
When the shooting occurred, thousands of Palestinians from the West Bank were ready to enter Jerusalem for prayers on the first Friday of Ramadan at the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met with security officials and announced that a major crossing in the northern West Bank near the attacker's hometown would be closed indefinitely.
Israeli security forces search for an assailant near the scene of a shooting in Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday, April 7, 2022.Ariel Schalit/AP
But it appeared that Israel had plans afoot to allow Palestinian women, children and older men into Jerusalem to pray.
Protests and clashes in the holy city during Ramadan last year eventually ignited an 11-day war in Gaza.
"We will expand our actions against the wave of terror through offense, defense and intelligence," Defense Minister Benny Gantz said before the meeting.
"The attackers and those who send them will pay a very high price," he said.
Panic in the city center
Thursday's shooting took place in a crowded bar on Dizengoff Street, a central thoroughfare that has seen other attacks over the years.
Thursday night was the start of the Israeli weekend, and
the area was packed with people in bars and restaurants
.
In videos posted on social media, dozens of terrified people were seen running through the streets as police searched for the attacker and ordered people to stay indoors.
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Hundreds of Israeli police, canine units, and army special forces
carried out a large-scale manhunt throughout the night in Tel Aviv
, searching building by building in densely populated residential neighborhoods.
The scene of a shooting in a busy entertainment area in Tel Aviv, Israel, on April 7, 2022. Ariel Schalit / AP
Earlier Friday, authorities said they found the suspected attacker hiding near a mosque in Jaffa, an Arab neighborhood in southern Tel Aviv, and killed him in a shootout.
A Palestinian from Jenin
The Shin Bet internal security service identified the attacker as
Raad Hazem, a 28-year-old Palestinian from Jenin
, in the occupied West Bank.
He said that he did not belong to an organized militant group and that he had no record.
He had illegally entered Israel without permission.
The Jenin refugee camp was the scene of one of the deadliest battles of the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising, 20 years ago.
In April 2002, Israeli forces fought Palestinian militants in the camp for nearly three weeks.
Twenty-three Israeli soldiers and at least 52 Palestinians, including civilians, were killed, according to the United Nations.
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The Israeli army frequently carries out detention raids in Jenin, often under fire.
The Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the occupied West Bank and coordinates with Israel on security issues, appears to have little control over the area.
They seek to avoid a war
In addition to Thursday's attack, 13 Israelis have been killed in recent weeks, making this one of the worst waves of violence in years.
The Hamas militant group that rules the Gaza Strip praised the attack but did not claim responsibility.
The attacks have created a challenge for the Israeli authorities.
All the attackers appear to have acted individually
or with minimal support from a small cell.
Three of them are believed to have identified with the Islamic State extremist group.
But the militant groups do not appear to have trained them or organized the attacks.
Seeking to prevent a repeat of last year's war, Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian leaders have held a series of meetings in recent weeks to discuss ways to keep the peace.
"We help them from day to night."
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Israel has taken a series of steps aimed at defusing tensions, including issuing thousands of additional work permits to Palestinians in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
But the attacks have triggered growing calls in Israel for tougher action.
Before the attack, Israel had said it would allow women, children and men over the age of 40 from the occupied West Bank to pray at Al-Aqsa Mosque in east Jerusalem on Friday, the first weekly prayers of Ramadan.
Tens of thousands were expected to attend and thousands of police officers would be mobilized.
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The mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem
is the third holiest site in Islam
and sits on top of a hill that is the holiest site for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount.
The holy site has long been a flashpoint of Israeli-Palestinian violence.
A decades-long conflict
Israel has worked to sideline the Palestinian issue in recent years, focusing instead on forging alliances with Arab states against Iran.
But the century-old conflict remains a complex issue to resolve.
Israel captured East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Middle East war. The Palestinians want the three territories to form their future state.
The last substantive peace talks broke down more than a decade ago, and Bennett opposes Palestinian statehood, though he supports steps to improve its economy and quality of life.
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Israel annexed East Jerusalem in an internationally unrecognized move and considers the entire city its capital.
It is building and expanding Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, which most of the international community considers illegal.
Israel withdrew soldiers and settlers from Gaza in 2005. But along with neighboring Egypt, it imposed a crippling blockade on the territory after the militant group Hamas seized power from Palestinian forces.
Israel and Hamas have fought four wars since then.
Israel says the conflict stems from the Palestinians' refusal to accept their right to exist as a Jewish state and blames in part social media incitement for the attacks.
The Palestinians say such attacks are the inevitable result of a nearly 55-year military occupation that shows no signs of ending.
___
Krauss reported from Jerusalem.
Associated Press writer Ilan Ben Zion in Jerusalem contributed to this report.