UpdateForeign tourists have fallen victim to a suspected Palestinian attack in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv. A 30-year-old Italian was shot dead on the boulevard. Several Italians and British were injured when they were shot at or rammed by a car, which eventually flipped over.
Paramedics said the Italian suffered fatal gunshot wounds in the incident, which took place near the coast. Others were injured when a driver rammed passers-by with his car. According to police, the car flipped over.
A police officer saw the driver trying to pull a gun. Then he shot him. According to the news site ynet, the perpetrator was an Israeli Arab.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the Israeli police “to mobilize all border police reserve units, and the army to mobilize additional troops to face terrorist attacks.”
The Italian Foreign Ministry wrote on Twitter: “Horror and deep dismay at the cowardly attack in Tel Aviv.”
Earlier in the day, two British sisters (16 and 20) who had lived in Israel for years were shot dead in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. A third woman, the mother, was seriously injured. The attack on the women was carried out, according to the Israeli army, when they were in a car near an Israeli settlement.
The army says it is looking for the perpetrators, who are considered terrorists. Prime Minister Netanyahu has been informed of the incident north of Jerusalem, according to Israeli media. An American was recently shot dead in the region.
Al-Aqsa Mosque
Tensions in the region have risen rapidly after internationally criticized Israeli raids on the al-Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, which is also important to Jews.
A spokesman for the radical Hamas movement said the attacks are an example of the “capacity of resistance” of young people willing to “harm the occupiers.” He says the attacks are a response to the conflicts on the Temple Mount.
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