The tension does not fall: three people were wounded by bullets in Tel Aviv in a ” terrorist attack “ whose author was shot dead by the Israeli police on Thursday, March 9 in the early evening.
“We evacuated three gunshot wounds, one in critical condition, one seriously injured, and one lightly”, announced Eli Bin, director of Magen David Adom (MDA), the Israeli equivalent of the Red Cross, on Kan, the public television channel. The police announced the death of one of the injured people, before returning to their remarks, a little later in the evening. The Ichilov Hospital reported that the condition of the injured man initially announced as critical had improved.
The shootings took place around 8:40 p.m. (7:40 p.m. Paris time) on the first evening of the Israeli weekend on Dizengoff Avenue, popular with night owls, in the center of Tel Aviv – where a Palestinian attack had made three died in April 2022 – as opponents of the government’s judicial reform bill demonstrated elsewhere in the city.
“personal initiative”
In a statement, Hamas said the attack was carried out by a member of its armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Motaz Khawaja, 23, from the Palestinian town of Nilin, near Ramallah in the West Bank. busy. Without claiming “the operation”Hamas calls Motaz Khawaja a “heroic martyr” and presents his act as a “personal initiative”and an “natural response to the crimes of the occupation” Israeli.
Reached by telephone by Agence France-Presse (AFP) in Nilin, Salah Khawajah said he learned on social networks that his son Motaz was the author of the attack. He says he sees in his son’s deed “a normal reaction for any young person who sees the injustice and the killings committed by the Israeli army every day”. A condolence ceremony has begun in this city, according to a neighbor.
Police spokesman Dean Elsdunne said “the terrorist started shooting at civilians [dans] A coffee “ before being chased and killed by police officers who thus “succeeded in preventing a much more serious attack from taking place”. In a statement, Interior Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir congratulated “the policeman who, in a brave act, eliminated the heinous terrorist and saved many lives”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, on an official visit to Rome, wished “a speedy recovery to the injured”in a brief televised intervention.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said he gave the order to“act immediately to destroy the terrorist’s house”. According to witnesses, Israeli soldiers entered Motaz Khawaja’s house around midnight. The army confirmed to be “in operation” in Ilin.
The three Palestinians shot dead in the West Bank
In Paris, the Quai d’Orsay condemned “with the greatest firmness” the attack, which occurs in a climate of high tension and a marked resurgence of violence linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since the entry into office at the end of December of one of the most right-wing governments in the history of Israel, under the conduct of Mr. Netanyahu.
Three armed Palestinians, including two Islamic Jihad fighters, were killed Thursday morning during an Israeli military operation in the northern occupied West Bank. Islamic Jihad and Hamas, another Palestinian Islamist movement, have promised to avenge their deaths.
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Already on Tuesday, several Palestinian armed groups had called for revenge for the death of six Palestinians (including the author of a fatal attack on two Israelis at the end of February, and at least three other fighters) killed during an army raid Israelis in the northern West Bank.
During a brief visit to Tel Aviv on Thursday, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin pleaded for a ” de-escalation “ as repeated calls for calm from the UN resound in the desert.
In Beitar Illit, a Jewish settlement in the West Bank southwest of Jerusalem, the army said that deminers had exploded Thursday evening 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), twelve civilians (including three minors) and one Israeli policeman, as well than a Ukrainian, according to an AFP tally compiled from official Israeli and Palestinian sources.