Tel Aviv terror attack on Friday
At least one person was murdered and six others injured in a suspected terror attack in Tel Aviv on Friday night in a car-ramming attack on the Tel Aviv beach promenade. The terrorist was shot and killed by a police officer, Israel Police said.
Related stories:
Tel Aviv terror attack on Friday
The fatality was reported to be a thirty-year-old tourist from Italy.
MDA chief Eli Bin said one person was killed and four others injured in a car-ramming attack at the Tel Aviv beach promenade. "We are still checking if any more people were hurt and had left the scene to seek shelter," Bin said.
Two of the injured were suffering mild injuries and were transported to the Wolfson Medical Center in Holon while four others were taken to Tel Aviv's Ichilov Hospital. Hospital officials said they received two patients suffering moderate injuries and two with lightly hurt, all wounded in their lower extremities.
5 View gallery
The I.D. card of the terrorist who killed one and wounded others in an attack in Tel Aviv on Friday
Friends of the injured said they were a few yards ahead of the group when they saw a car speeding down the bike path and ramming into their friends.
A paramedic who arrived first at the scene said he saw the car that had turned over and two people lying on the ground. "The man, who was later identified as the assailant, and next to him a young woman who was suffering from a head injury and pains in her stomach and legs. some 200 meters away we saw a man with a head injury and piercing wounds that appeared to be from a gunshot. he was unconscious and had no pulse," the paramedic said. "We began administering emergency care but had to pronounce him dead," he said. "There were three others wounded further away and the scene was a difficult one," he said.
The terrorist was identified as Yosef Abu J'aber who had an Israeli I.D. card and was from the Arab city of Kfar Qasim in the center of the country. The police was still uncertain whether he had fired his gun as well as part of his attack.
According to accounts from the scene, the driver sped in a car down a bicycle path where a group of tourists from Britain and Italy were walking and drove into them before turning over. A police officer and city inspectors approached the car and saw the terrorist reach for his gun. They opened fire and killed him.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a call-up of Border Police reserves and reserve forces for the military, after being briefed of the deadly terror strike in Tel Aviv.
The attack came hours after two sisters from the West Bank Settlement of Efrat were murdered in a drive-by shooting attack and their mother suffered critical wounds and was fighting for her life at the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem.
During a visit to the scene, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel was in the midst of a terror attack. "Our forces, including the military, the Shin Bet, The Mossad and the police are prepared to respond to any event and carry out their duties," he said.
The Hamas and Islamic Jihad terror groups praised the attack. A spokesman for Hamas said the attacks on the West Bank and in Tel Aviv were an example of the resistance's ability to cause harm to the occupation and were a response to the clashes at the al Aqsa mosque.