Three terror attacks occurred in late March, two of which were carried out by Islamic State supporters. A total of 11 people were killed, making it one of the deadliest waves of attacks in the country in recent years.[6] The deadliest of the previous attacks was the drive-by shooting in Bnei Brak.
Three other major attacks have historically taken place in Dizengoff Street. In the 1990s, during the Oslo years following the First Intifada, Hamas suicide bombers killed 22 people in 1994 and 13 people in 1996 in attacks on Dizengoff Street. In 2016, another Islamic State supporter killed three people in a mass shooting.[7]
Attack
The scene at the Ilka bar after the attack
At around 9:00p.m., a shooter reportedly clad in black clothing opened fire at three locations on Dizengoff Street, a major street in central Tel Aviv, including at the Ilka Bar. Ten people were transported to Ichilov Hospital. Two of them, both men aged 27,[8] died of their injuries.[9] Six other people were wounded, including three critically.[5] A day later, 35-year-old kayaker Barak Lufan, who was injured during the attack, died due to his wounds, bringing the death toll to three.[10]
The gunman fled on foot and remained at large several hours after the shooting, prompting an extensive manhunt by security forces.[11][12]
About 1,000 soldiers and police officers participated in the manhunt, including special forces soldiers from the elite Sayeret Matkal, LOTAR Eilat, and Shaldag units. Tel Aviv residents were instructed to remain indoors and keep away from windows and balconies. On the early morning of 8 April, after about nine hours, he was found hiding in a mosque in Jaffa and killed in a gunfight with Shin Bet agents and Israeli police Yamam officers.[13][14][12][15]
Perpetrator
The gunman was identified as Raad Khazem, a 28-year-old Palestinian from Jenin in the northern West Bank.[6][16] Khazem had prayed at a mosque in Yefet Street before the shootings, which was also where he was later killed. His ties to any militant groups were unclear.[13]
According to information released by the Israel Defense Forces on 10 April, Khazem had previously gotten into a financial dispute with his neighbours in Jenin. Khazem received death threats from his neighbours, who eventually tried to shoot him dead. This led to Khazem acquiring his gun.[17]
His father, Fathi, served as a security officer for the Palestinian Authority and had spent time in Israeli prison in the past.[18]
Khazem's family reacted positively to the news of the attack and praised him as a hero.[19] Raad Khazem's brother, Abed, was killed on 28 September 2022, when their father’s home was hit by a missile during an Israeli raid in Jenin. Three other people were also killed during the raid.[20]
Victims
The attacker killed Tomer Morad, Eytam Magini, and Barak Lufan. Morad and Magini, both 27 years old, were from Kfar Saba. Lufan died the day after the attack from his wounds;[21] he was a former Olympian kayaker, having represented Israel in the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Olympics.[4]
Aftermath
Thousands of Palestinians from the city of Jenin, its neighboring villages and the Jenin refugee camp, went towards the home of the shooter's family in the city to express their support. In addition, "Allahu Akbar" chants, nationalist songs, distribution of sweets, and messages of support for the attacker were heard through the public address system. His father, Fathi Khazem, a retired lieutenant colonel in the national security of the Palestinian Authority, praised the attack carried out by his son.[citation needed]
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned "the killing of Israeli civilians", warning that the murder of civilians on both sides would only lead to "a further deterioration of the situation".[6] However, Akram Rajoub, who serves as Abbas' governor in Jenin, praised Hazem as “a Fatah warrior".[22]
Palestinian militant groups such as Hamas did not claim responsibility, but condoned and celebrated the attack, claiming it was the "natural and legitimate response to the escalation of the occupation's crimes against our people, our land, Jerusalem and al-Aqsa Mosque." Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine echoed Hamas' response, and warned that further "incursions" into al-Aqsa Mosque would only lead to "more resistance and ransom operations."[15]
U.S. ambassador to Israel Tom Nides tweeted that he was "horrified to see another cowardly attack on innocent civilians", and EU Ambassador to Israel Dimiter Tzantchev stated that he was "deeply worried about reports about another terror attack against Israeli civilians".[15] U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also condemned the attack.[6]
Bahrain issued a condemnation of the shooting, which described it as a "terrorist operation."[23]
In response to the attack, the Israel Defense Forces invaded Jenin, raiding Khazem's family home to map it for demolition. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett granted "all security forces full freedom" of operations in the West Bank. "There are not and will not be limits for this war," Bennett said. "We are granting full freedom of action to the army, the Shin Bet [domestic security agency] and all security forces in order to defeat the terror."[24]
On 9 April, the IDF killed a Palestinian man belonging to Islamic Jihad. According to local authorities the operation also wounded 13 others, including a 19 year old woman with a bullet to her stomach.[25] Israel deployed additional engineering troops to the "seam zone" with the West Bank in order to patch holes in the security barrier.[26]
↑ This figure does not include the shooter, who was shot and killed by police a day later at a different location.
Related Research Articles
Note: This compilation includes only those attacks that resulted in casualties. Attacks which did not kill or wound are not included.
Events in the year 2002 in Israel.
The 2011 Tel Aviv nightclub attack was a combined vehicular assault and stabbing attack carried out at 01:40 (GMT+2) 29 August 2011 in which a Palestinian attacker stole an Israeli taxi cab and rammed it into a police checkpoint guarding the popular nightclub, Haoman 17, in Tel Aviv which was filled with 2,000 Israeli teenagers. After crashing into the checkpoint, the attacker jumped out of the vehicle and began stabbing people. Four civilians, four police officers, and also perpetrator were injured in the attack. The perpetrator was living illegally in Israel at the time of the attack.
The Seafood Market attack was a Palestinian terrorist attack on the Seafood Market restaurant in Tel Aviv, Israel, on 5 March 2002. Palestinian terrorist Ibrahim Hasouna murdered three Israeli civilians, including a Druze policeman and wounded 35.
An increase of violence occurred in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict starting in the autumn of 2015 and lasting into the first half of 2016. It was called the "Intifada of the Individuals" by Israeli sources, the Knife Intifada, Stabbing Intifada or Jerusalem Intifada by international sources because of the many stabbings in Jerusalem, or Habba by Palestinian sources. 38 Israelis and 235 Palestinians were killed in the violence. 558 Israelis and thousands of Palestinians were injured.
On 1 January 2016, an Israeli Arab gunman opened fire on several businesses on Dizengoff Street, Tel Aviv, Israel, killing two and injuring seven civilians. He also killed a taxi driver while fleeing. The attack was believed to be inspired by ISIS. The event took place in parallel with the 2015-16 Palestinian unrest.
On 8 March 2016, a 21-year-old Palestinian man from Qalqilya killed an American tourist and wounded ten civilians in a stabbing spree in Jaffa Port, Tel Aviv, Israel. The attacker was shot dead by the police after a chase along the beach promenade.
In a terrorist attack in Tel Aviv, Israel on 8 June 2016, two Palestinian gunmen opened fire on patrons at the Max Brenner Cafe at the Sarona Market, killing four people and injuring seven others. The perpetrators were caught alive by the security forces and put in custody. According to an official indictment filed by the Tel Aviv District Prosecutor's Office the perpetrators were inspired by the Islamic State group.
On 9 October 2016 in Jerusalem, Musbah Abu Sbaih, a Hamas militant shot 8 people from a car near the Ammunition Hill light rail stop, killing two and wounding six. The police gave chase, Shaih was shot and killed while shooting at pursuing police.
On 14 July 2017, three Arab-Israeli men left the Temple Mount, and opened fire on Israeli border police officers stationed near the Gate of the Tribes which is close to the Lions' Gate. Two Israeli border police officers were killed and two more were injured in the attack. All three attackers were shot and killed by Israeli police after fleeing back into the complex.
The 2017 Temple Mount crisis was a period of violent tensions related to the Temple Mount, which began on 14 July 2017, after a shooting incident in the complex in which Palestinian gunmen killed two Israeli police officers. Following the attack, Israeli authorities installed metal detectors at the entrance to the Mount in a step that caused large Palestinian protests and was severely criticized by Palestinian leaders, the Arab League, and other Muslim leaders, on the basis that it constituted a change in the "status quo" of the Temple Mount entry restrictions.
Events in the year 2022 in Israel.
On 29 March 2022, a series of shootings took place in Bnei Brak, Israel. Diaa Hamarsheh, a 26-year-old Palestinian from Ya'bad, killed five people.
The following is a list of events during the Israeli–Palestinian conflict in 2022.
Barak Lufan was an Israeli kayaker and the head of the Israel Canoe Association.
On 5 May 2022, a terror attack took place in El'ad, Central District, Israel, during Israel's Independence Day. Four civilians were murdered and several others were injured.
Events in the year 2022 in the Palestinian territories.
The Lions' Den is a Palestinian militant group operating in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
The following is a list of events during the Israeli–Palestinian conflict in 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
Ilka bar, Dizengoff Street, Tel Aviv, Israel 
