An Israeli security guard was shot dead in Tel Aviv on Saturday night. The perpetrator was killed in turn by another security guard.
The attacker was identified by Israeli security services as a 22-year-old Palestinian from Jenin in the occupied West Bank. According to the Shin Bet security service, the man sympathized with the Islamic Jihad group.
A spokesman for Palestinian Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, called the attack a “response to the crimes inflicted on our people by the occupying power and settlers.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the security guards’ vigilance, which he says prevented a far more serious attack.
The attack comes just a day after a 19-year-old Palestinian was killed by Israeli settlers in a village near Ramallah in the West Bank. Two settlers were arrested after the incident.
So far this year, at least 208 Palestinians and 28 Israelis have been killed in various acts of violence linked to the conflict, according to AFP’s compilation.