On Wednesday, Israeli security forces were on high alert after a Palestinian gunman killed five people in a Tel Aviv suburb, the latest in a succession of deadly shootings that have fueled worries of escalation ahead of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan.
As police increased their presence in Israeli cities, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett claimed Israel was facing a “new wave of terrorism” and requested a security cabinet meeting.
The shootings in Bnei Brak, a Jewish ultra-Orthodox city, on Tuesday brought the total number of Israelis slain by Arab attackers in Israel in the last week to 11.
It was the biggest increase in attacks on city streets in years, reawakening a familiar sense of unease among Israelis.
The gunman was a Palestinian from Ya’bad, a hamlet in the occupied West Bank, according to police. During the shooting spree, he was shot and killed by police.
Witnesses stated he moved systematically through Bnei Brak’s residential neighborhoods, killing a police officer, two Israeli citizens, and two Ukrainian nationals who had worked in Israel for years.
Two gunmen in a stabbing and car-ramming incident in the Israeli city of Beersheba on March 22 and one assailant in a stabbing and car-ramming attack in the Israeli city of Hadera on Sunday were both Arab citizens of Israel. The assailants who were slain during the attacks were claimed to be Islamic State supporters, according to Israeli authorities.
Although neighbors in Ya’bad linked the perpetrator to Abbas’ Fatah party, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the shootings in Bnei Brak, which were not claimed by any armed group.
The Israeli military announced that its presence in the West Bank had been increased, and troops were observed patrolling through Ya’bad. Yair Lapid, Israel’s foreign minister said Israeli security personnel was on high alert for the first time since the Gaza conflict in May.
Israeli officials had warned of an increase in attacks in the months leading up to the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in April, a time when violence has spiked in the past.
Last year, nightly Ramadan conflicts between Palestinians and Israeli police in East Jerusalem, which Israel occupied along with the West Bank in a 1967 war, sparked bloodshed between Israel and Gaza militants, which culminated in the 11-day war in May.
