Although the circumstances were not immediately clear, the shooting appeared to be the latest in a series of attacks in the run-up to the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Israeli media reported that the perpetrator was a Palestinian from the West Bank. The two previous attacks, carried out by ISIS-inspired Israeli civilians in Israel, have raised concerns about further violence.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett convened an emergency meeting of senior security officials later Tuesday.
Tuesday’s shooting struck two locations in Bnei Brack, a pro-Orthodox city just east of Tel Aviv. Police said in a statement that the preliminary investigation found that the gunman was armed with a gun and opened fire on passers-by before being shot by police at the scene.
Israeli police are searching a car at the scene of a shooting in Bnei Brack on Tuesday. The gunman was killed by police. (Oded Balilty / The Associated Press)
A police official, speaking to reporters at the scene, corrected the first information that five people were killed, clarifying that the gunman and four victims were found dead.
Israeli media reported that the suspected gunman was a 27-year-old Palestinian from the city of Yabad in the North West Bank. Police did not immediately release information about the suspect.
An amateur video broadcast on Israeli television showed a gunman in a black shirt armed with a shotgun shooting at a moving vehicle.
Peak of attacks
On Sunday, a gunman killed two young police officers during a shooting in the central city of Hadera, and last week, a lone gunman killed four people in a car and knife attack in the southern city of Beersheba.
Earlier on Tuesday, Israeli security forces raided the homes of at least 12 Arab citizens and arrested two suspected links to ISIS, also known as Islamic State, in a crackdown that sparked recent deadly attacks.
Hours before the raid, Bennett said the recent attacks inside Israel signaled a “new situation” that called for increased security.
Medical examiners are working at the scene of the attack in Bnei Brack on Tuesday. (Nir Elias / Reuters)
Law enforcement officials said 31 homes and locations were searched overnight in northern Israel, an area where gunmen had attacked Khandera.
The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for two previous attacks.
Israeli leaders have condemned the killings and set a timetable. Both attacks took place before Ramadan, which begins later this week, and as Israel hosted a high-profile meeting this week between the foreign ministers of the four Arab nations and the United States. All four Arab nations – Egypt, Morocco, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates – along with the United States, have condemned the killings.
Ramadan is expected to begin on Saturday. Last year, clashes between Israeli police and Muslim protesters during the holy month ended in an 11-day war between Israel and Hamas, the Islamic State militant group that rules Gaza. Hamas praised the shooting as a “heroic operation”.
Israel has taken steps to defuse tensions with the Palestinians this year to avoid a recurrence of violence. Deadly attacks by the Islamic State inside Israel and attacks by Arab citizens of Israel are rare.
The group operates mainly in Iraq and Syria, where it has recently stepped up attacks on security forces. It no longer controls any area, but operates through sleep cells. ISIS, which has carried out attacks on Israeli troops in the past, has branches in Afghanistan and other countries.
