Victims belonged to border police
IS attackers kill two Israeli police officers
03/28/2022, 01:50 am
Two Islamic State supporters open fire on a street in Hadera during a “historic” foreign ministers’ meeting intended to cement the normalization of relations between Israel and several Arab states. Two police officers are killed.
At least two Israeli police officers were killed and several people injured in an armed attack by suspected jihadists in the northern Israeli city of Hadera on Sunday evening. According to local police representative Dudu Boani, the Israeli secret service had identified the two attackers as supporters of the jihadist organization Islamic State (IS). The attackers were killed by special forces. The attack happened during a “historic” meeting of US and Arab officials in southern Israel.
Footage from surveillance cameras in Hadera showed two men with automatic weapons opening fire on a street. As the AFP news agency learned from security sources, “two members of the anti-terrorist units of the border police, who were staying in a restaurant near the scene of the attack, came out and neutralized the attackers”.
According to initial information from the emergency services, six people received medical treatment after the attack. Shortly thereafter, according to eyewitnesses, security forces combed the town of Umm el-Fahm, about 20 kilometers from Hadera.
Foreign Minister expresses condolences to the bereaved
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett traveled on to Hadera, between Tel Aviv and Haifa, after “historic” talks with representatives of the US, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco at a kibbutz in the Negev desert. There he spoke to local officials, according to his office.
Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said he had “informed” participants at the Negev summit. “All foreign ministers have condemned the attack and sent their condolences to the families of the victims.” His US colleague Antony Blinken said on Twitter: “Such senseless acts of violence and murder have no place in society.”
The meeting is intended to cement the normalization of relations between Israel and the Arab states. The radical Palestinian movements Hamas and Islamic Jihad welcomed “Hadera’s heroic deed” but did not accept responsibility for it. Israeli Arab politicians condemned the attack by the two suspects, who are also said to be Israeli Arabs.