An amateur video broadcast on Israeli television showed a man dressed in black and aiming a rifle walking down a street in Bnei Brak, a Jewish ultra-Orthodox city east of Israel’s commercial capital. The gunman was later identified as a 26-year-old resident of Ya’bad, near Jenin in the North West Bank. He is believed to have worked at a construction site in Bnei Brack and had previously served a short sentence in an Israeli prison for a security offense. The attack closes one of the bloodiest weeks in Israel in recent years and has raised fears that the Islamic State is trying to provoke a campaign of violence ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins next weekend. Two previous attacks on Hadera and Beersheva are believed to have been carried out by supporters of the terrorist group. Tuesday’s attack was not directly linked to any organization. Witnesses said Bnei Brack’s gunman started firing on apartment balconies and then at people on the street and in a car before being fatally shot. Close-up video shows a black-clad skinny man walking down a street with an assault rifle after a cyclist made a lucky escape. Amen ambulance service David Adom said the gunman killed at least five people. “The terrorist was killed,” said ambulance spokesman Zackie Heller. He was reportedly shot and killed by a police officer. The incident followed the conclusion of a summit of Arab foreign ministers from Morocco, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, as well as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who was hosted by Israel in the Negev desert. The rally had angered Hezbollah in Lebanon, which it called “traitorous” and strongly opposed by Islamic factions in Gaza. Tensions have also risen in the West Bank following several deadly clashes between residents and border police. Israeli officials had warned of deteriorating conditions in the West Bank. The annual Earth Day celebration, which marks the death of six Israeli Arabs killed in 1976 in protest of planned land appropriation, is set to take place on Wednesday. Last week’s attack in Beersheba, in which four people were killed in a knife and car bombing, was carried out by an Arab citizen of Israel, who authorities said was a supporter of the Islamic State. On Sunday, as the Arab summit was convened in southern Israel, an Arab insurgent shot dead and killed two policemen in Khandera, a town about 30 miles north of Tel Aviv. Other officers shot and killed him. Islamic State claimed responsibility for both attacks. The terrorist group is not known to have a significant presence inside the country. However, the presence of sympathizers inspired by the group’s leaders has long been a concern. Reuters and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report
