Israel: Tourist Killed In Tel Aviv In 2nd Attack In 24 Hours Amid High Tensions

In the second attack in the 24 hours, a tourist was killed in Israel's Tel Aviv on Friday evening and five others were injured.

Earlier, two Israeli women were killed and a third was injured in a shooting attack in West Bank on Friday. 

The multiple attacks come at a time when Israel and the region is on the edge as Israel faces multi-front assault. Since Thursday, Israel has faced dozens of rockets from Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and Palestinian terrorist elements present in Lebanon. Israel has responded to these rockets with airstrikes. Reports say multinational efforts are ongoing to calm the tensions. 

The multi-front assault on Israel comes in the midst of high tensions over clashes between Israeli security personnel and Palestinians at Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem earlier this week, the third holiest site in Islam. 

What we know of Tel Aviv attack?

A person rammed a car into a group of people in Tel Aviv on Friday night, killing one and inujuring five. 

The Times of Israel identified the deceased as an Italian tourist named  Alessandro Parini, 36. 

The attacker was neutralised by law enforcement personnel who rushed to the site of the attack, according to Israel Police.

In posts on Twitter, the Israel Police said, "At 21:35 [7:35 pm] a Kia car driven by a 45-year-old resident of Kfar Kasem drove from south to north on the bike path of the Tel Aviv boardwalk. During the car-ramming, the driver hit six pedestrians, and overturned on the lawn of the Charles Clore Garden.

"A police officer from Tel Aviv's Lev station who was at a nearby gas station, heard the overturning of the vehicle and ran towards the lawn with inspectors from Tel Aviv municipality unit. When they arrived at the scene, they noticed the driver trying to reach for what looked like a rifle-like object that was with him, and neutralized him."

The police further said while the 36-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene, five others were lightly injured and another 18-year-old suffered shock.

The Israel Police in a tweet termed the incident an act of terror.

The attacker was identified as Yousef Abu Jaber, an Israeli Arab, who lived in Kafr Qassem town.

"The terrorist in the Tel Aviv attack was named as Yousef Abu Jaber, 45, a resident of Kafr Qassem. He had no known prior security offenses. Shin Bet agents and police officers were at Jaber’s home in the central Arab-majority city on Friday night to question his family members," reported The Times of Israel.

2nd attack in 24 hours 

The Tel Aviv attack was the second such attack in the 24 hours. Earlier on Friday, two Israeli women were killed a third was wounded in a shooting attack in West Bank. The Times of Israel reported that the deceased were sisters and the wounded is their mother who was critically wounded in the attack.

At least one Palestinian driving in the Jordan Valley allegedly opened fire on a car of three women, killing two of them, the Israeli military said.

Medics said they dragged the unconscious women from their smashed car that appeared to have been pushed off the road.

The Israeli military said it was searching for those behind the attack, setting up roadblocks in the area. No militant group immediately claimed responsibility, but Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem hailed the attack "in retaliation for the crimes committed by Israel in the Al-Aqsa mosque and the West Bank".

Hamas is the principal Palestinian terrorist group that controls Gaza Strip and is committed to the destruction of Israel.

"The group’s ideology blends Islamism and Palestinian nationalism and seeks the destruction of Israel and the creation of an Islamic state between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River...Hamas’s preferred methods include suicide bombings, rocket and mortar attacks, shootings, and kidnappings," says think tank Counter Extremism Project (CEP) about Hamas.

The CEP adds that Hamas also receives financial and military support from Iran and Qatar has also provided significant funding for the group.

2nd car attack in recent months

Hamas is also known to carry out car attacks, the kind of which killed the Italian tourist in Tel Aviv on Friday night.

The CEP says the 2016 Nice attack launched a wave of vehicular terrorist attacks around the world. It also says that Hamas is among the terrorist groups engaging in vehicular terrorist attacks. Eighty-six were killed in the 2016 Nice attack.

The CEP says, "Terrorist groups like al-Qaeda, ISIS, and Hamas have long called for—and claimed responsibility for—vehicular terrorist attacks...Following the wave of vehicular terrorist attacks in 2016 and 2017, ISIS has continued to issue calls to violence and warnings of additional car-ramming attacks."

The CEP notes that Israel has particularly faced the brunt of car attacks. 

The CEP says, "A slew of car-ramming attacks have also been carried out by Palestinian assailants in Israel and the West Bank. In November of 2014, Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups—including the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ)—praised a wave of vehicular attacks and called for more. One such image posted online read, 'Run [them] over, son of Hebron...and son of Jerusalem. Take your car...and run over the Zionists'."

Both Hamas and PIJ are committed to the establishment of a singular Palestinian state and the destruction of Israel. 

In February, two were killed in a similar car attack in Jerusalem.

Israel remains on the edge

Following two attacks in 24 hours, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered an immediate call-up on Friday of Border Police reserves personnel, according to The Times of Israel. The ToI says the action suggests the government considers further escalation is likely. 

At least 34 rockets were fired into Israel from Lebanon on Thursday and 44 were fired overnight from Gaza. Israeli media reported that the rocket barrage from Lebanon was the largest since 2006 Israel-Lebanon War. 

While several rocketes were intercepted by the Israeli air defence systems, several landed inside Israel and caused damage and injuries.

Following the rocket attacks, Israel carried out airstrikes in Gaza and Lebanon. While strikes in Gaza are regular, the strikes in Lebanon in response to rocket attacks from there is extremely rare and marks a significant escalation in the conflict. Experts say Iran-backed groups like Hamas are opening multiple fronts against Israel.

"Just so folks are clear: there is now an Iran-backed effort to hit Israel on four fronts: Lebanon, Gaza, West Bank and Jerusalem. And they’re wielding Ramadan as the predicate," said think tank's Foundation for the Defense of Democracies' (FDD) Jonathan Schanzer.

Palestinian terrorist groups like Hamas and PIJ and Lebanon-based Hezbollah are backed by Iran against Israel.

Trey Yingst of Fox News reported that multinational efforts are ongoing to calm the tensions.

He reported, "Qatar is working to deescalate the security situation between the Israelis and Palestinians, I’m told by a Qatari official. The main goal of leaders in Doha is 'to  prevent unnecessary bloodshed and avoid destructive consequences for Palestinians and civilian populations'. The official indicated that Qatar, in its role as a mediator, was in contact with 'all sides' as recently as noon today.

A Palestinian official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to brief the media, said that Egyptian security officials were working with Hamas and Israel to de-escalate the situation.

The past year has been the deadliest in decades in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Dozens of Israelis have died in a string of Palestinian attacks and Palestinian casualties have also mounted in near-daily Israeli raids inside Palestinian territories. 

Amid such multi-front assault, and unprecedented domestic political turmoil, Netanyahu has reportedly said that Israel does not want multi-front conflict.

"Israel seeks to avoid wider conflicts on multiple fronts and move away from major escalations in Lebanon, the Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem, and the West Bank...Netanyahu said Israel must avoid being dragged into confrontations and wider-scale conflicts and present a united front," ToI quoted Netanyahu as saying to his Cabinet, citing Israel's Channel 12.

(With AP inputs)