Thursday 9 June 2016

Tel Aviv shooting: Israel suspends Palestinian permits


Media captionFootage shows a large number of emergency services personnel at the scene
Israel says it has suspended entry permits for 83,000 Palestinians after gunmen killed four people in an attack at an open-air complex in Tel Aviv.
Two Palestinians from the occupied West Bank opened fire on shoppers and diners at the Sarona precinct, officials said.
Police said the attackers were cousins from Yatta, a Palestinian village near Hebron. Both are in custody.
Islamist group Hamas praised what it called an "heroic attack" but did not say it was behind it.
The West Bank-based Palestinian Authority has not yet commented on the incident.
Two women - Ilana Nave, 39, and Mila Mishayev, 32 - and two men - Ido Ben Aryeh, 42, and Michael Feige, 58 - were killed, police said.
Sixteen people were also injured.
There has been a wave of Palestinian attacks on Israelis since last year, with a series of shootings, stabbings and car-rammings, although the rate had dropped in recent weeks.
Israeli forensic police inspect a restaurant following a shooting attack at a shopping complex in Tel Aviv on June 8Image copyrightAFP
Image captionThe area was busy with diners and shoppers when the attackers opened fire
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who visited the scene shortly afterwards, called the attack "a savage crime of murder and terrorism".
Israel later announced a permit ban that will impact Palestinians in the West Bank and in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip who had planned to visit relatives in Israel, attend Ramadan prayers in Jerusalem or travel abroad via Tel Aviv's airport.
The suspension did not apply to Palestinians with work authorizations.
Permits for 204 relatives of the attackers had also been suspended, a statement from Cogat, the Israeli body which manages civilian affairs in the West Bank, said.
It added Palestinians were being prevented from entering and leaving Yatta, and access to the village would only be allowed for humanitarian and medical cases.
According to Israeli media, army forces have also measured the houses of the attackers, in preparation for possible demolition.

Extra security

In Tel Aviv, extra police units have been deployed, mainly around the city's bus and train stations, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.
An Israeli soldier keeps watch as Palestinians sit nearby after the army entered the village of Yatta in the occupied West BankImage copyrightAFP
Image captionIsraeli forces are operating in the West Bank village of Yatta, near Hebron, where the attackers lived
In a statement, Hamas warned the "Zionists" would have more "surprises" during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which started this week.
Wednesday night's incident is the deadliest in a wave of attacks since October, which have killed 33 Israelis.
More than 200 Palestinians - mostly attackers, Israel says - have also been killed in that period.
The assailants who have been killed have been shot dead either by their victims or by security forces as they carried out attacks. Some attackers have been arrested.
Other Palestinians have been killed in clashes with Israeli troops.

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