After the West Bank and Gaza, Tel Aviv's Turn Rocked by Clashes Between Palestinian Militants and Israel: One Hamas Member Killed

Israeli police illustration. (Wikimedia Commons/Israel Police)

JAKARTA - A Palestinian gunman opened fire in Tel Aviv on Thursday, wounding three people, before being killed by police in what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a terror attack, amid escalating unrest in the West Bank.

The Islamist militant group Hamas claims the shooter, aged 23 from the occupied West Bank, as a member.

Police cordoned off the corner of downtown Dizengoff Street where the attack took place. A restaurant emptied after customers appeared to flee while eating, Reuters footage shows, as reported March 10.

Medics tend to the injured on a nearby sidewalk.

"Two policemen and two civilians who were in the area confronted the terrorist and killed him," said the Israeli police commissioner.

The shootings follow a spate of attacks by Palestinians around Jerusalem and in the West Bank that have killed 13 Israelis and a Ukrainian woman since late January.

Over the past year, Israeli forces have made thousands of arrests in the West Bank and killed more than 200 Palestinians, including fighters and civilians. More than 40 Israelis were killed in attacks by Palestinians during the same period.

"There was another terror attack in the heart of Tel Aviv tonight," PM Netanyahu said after receiving an update on the events during a visit to Italy.

"We are strengthening security forces and police who are fighting terrorists tonight and every night," he explained.

The Israeli military later said it was operating in the West Bank city, where the Hamas gunman lived.

Earlier on Thursday, Israeli forces killed three gunmen from the Islamic Jihad militant group in a gun battle in the West Bank. Hamas says the Tel Aviv shelling was a response to that.

"This heroic operation was a natural response to the crimes the occupation was carrying out," said Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem.

Three people injured in the Tel Aviv shooting were taken to hospital, one in serious condition.

Two days ago, Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired rockets and detonated explosives on Wednesday, after an Israeli attack on Jenin killed six people.

Separately, US Ambassador to Israel Thomas Nides said on Twitter: "Shocked by tonight's terrorist attack in Tel Aviv targeting innocent people. Prayers for those injured."

The attack came hours after US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin ended a brief visit to Israel, where he called on all parties to reduce violence.

After the shooting, Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai asked protesters, who had been rallying against the planned judicial overhaul, to stay home.