Palestinians target Israelis in knife and gun attacks

Palestinians attacked targeted Israelis in a Tel Aviv stabbing and a West Bank gun and car-ramming incident, claiming the lives of five people scincluding an American national on Thursday. The event ended in a lull after a series of violence for the past few weeks.

Since the series of violence in September, this was the most destructive and blood-shedding day for the Israelis. In the first attack by the Palestinians, a 36-year-old man entered the Panorama office building at Tel Aviv with a knife. The man attacked the two persons aged 20 and 50 on the second floor of the building.

According to police, after stabbing the two, the attacker ran downstairs and stabbed another person when the officers and civilians protested against him and injured him prior to his arrest. The third person suffered from serious injuries and was hospitalised, the hospital staff said. Police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld stated that the attacker also tried to enter a synagogue in the building.

“I heard cries and my Arab employee told me: ‘He’s stabbing,’” Israel Bachar, 65, who ran a print shop nearby, told AFP. “I left my store and I saw a man on the ground being stabbed. I threw a piece of wood that was on the ground and the terrorist got up and ran after me. I hid in a nearby store.” Bachar confirmed that in the protest, he lost his longtime friend who took his last breath in his arms.

Later that day, one attacker reportedly fired from a driving car near a Jewish establishment in South Jerusalem, thereby crashing pedestrians. Three people were killed in the incident, one of them is believed to be an attacker. There were several others who were injured in the event.

The details of the event were yet to be found but the army spoke about the fire shots by the attackers while driving. “Forces on sight fired towards the vehicle, identifying a hit,” AFP quoted the army saying.

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