The armed wing of the Palestinian group Hamas has claimed responsibility for a shooting attack in Jaffa, near the Israeli city of Tel Aviv, that left seven people dead and many others wounded.
“The Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades takes responsibility for the heroic Jaffa operation carried out by the fighters from the [occupied West Bank] city of Hebron,” the group said in a statement on Wednesday.
The Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades named the attackers as Mohammed Misk and Ahmed al-Haimoni, who managed to “infiltrate into our occupied lands”.
The attack came moments before Iran launched a barrage of rockets at Israel late on Tuesday, sending people into bomb shelters across the country.
Israeli media have identified three of the dead people as Israelis and one as Georgian. The others were Greek and Moldovan, their governments said. The identity of the seventh victim has not been released.
Police in Israel said the alleged assailants “began their killing spree when they entered the carriage of the light rail train that stopped at the station and fired at passengers”.
They were armed with an assault rifle and a knife, and continued on foot until police “neutralised” them, they said.
One of the attackers was shot dead and the other was seriously wounded, police added.
The Israeli security agency and the army also arrested several suspects in Hebron and Jerusalem believed to have aided the suspects.
Israel and Hamas have been at war in Gaza since October 7. At least 41,689 people have been killed and 96,625 have been injured in Israel’s assault on Gaza, according to Palestinian authorities. At least 1,139 people were killed in the Hamas-led attacks, according to an Al Jazeera tally based on Israeli statistics, and around 250 others were seized as hostages.
Violence in the West Bank has also surged. Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 682 people in raids or attacks in the territory since October 7, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
