After the latest tragic attack, in which a Palestinian gunman killed two men in a popular nightlife area, Israel’s prime minister authorized security services “full freedom” of operation to combat the rising violence.
“This battle has no and will not have any limitations,” Prime Minister Naftali Bennett declared hours after the Tel Aviv attack.
In a public address in the Israeli coastal city, he said, “We are allowing full freedom of action to the army, the Shin Bet [the domestic security agency], and other security agencies in order to defeat terror.”
The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, which administers the Gaza Strip, and the Islamic Jihad group have both expressed support for the attack but have not claimed responsibility.
Earlier on Friday, Israeli police claimed they had shot and killed a Palestinian gunman who opened fire on a busy street of cafes and restaurants on a Thursday evening, killing two Israeli males and wounding over a dozen others.
The assailant fired shots at partygoers, causing chaos as people ran in terror, launching an overnight manhunt involving 1,000 heavily armed police and military.
Tomer Morad and Eytam Magini, both 27 and childhood friends from the city of Kfar Saba, were killed, according to Mayor Rafi Saar, who described them as “our best sons.”
Hundreds of people have been arrested
Special troops met the attacker in Jaffa, Tel Aviv’s ancient Arab area, where street cleaners hosed blood off the ground on Friday morning.
Yaakov Shabtai, the police commissioner, claimed officers “successfully eliminated the terrorist via exchange of fire this morning.”
The assailant was identified as Raad Hazem, 28, of Jenin, in the northern Israeli-occupied West Bank, where Israeli soldiers killed three people in a raid last week.
President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, denounced the incident.
“The death of Palestinian and Israeli civilians only leads to a greater deterioration of the situation,” Abbas stated, according to a Palestinian news agency.
The Tel Aviv attack occurred as Israeli police were preparing for the first Friday prayers of Ramadan at the Al Aqsa Mosque in east Jerusalem on Thursday.
It is Islam’s third holiest shrine and a hotspot in the long-running Middle East conflict, with periodic conflicts.
Nightly protests in Jerusalem and the Al Aqsa compound last year turned into an 11-day battle between Israel and Hamas.
Since March 22, 13 individuals have been killed in Israeli attacks, some of which were carried out by assailants related to or inspired by the Daesh (Islamic State) terror group.
At least nine Palestinians, including assailants, had been slain in the same time period. Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said Israel has made “around 200 arrests, and if necessary there will be thousands.”
