Israeli police said on Tuesday they had received a report about “a car that attacked a number of civilians” in north Tel Aviv and that the suspect “has been neutralised”.
A medic who examined him at the scene told Israel’s Kan radio that he had been shot dead.
“It appears that the suspect was driving a vehicle travelling from south to north, rammed into pedestrians standing in the shopping centre and proceeded to get out of the vehicle to stab civilians with a sharp object,” police announced, adding that three of those wounded were in a serious condition.
Hamas announced that the car-ramming and stabbing attack in Tel Aviv was carried out by one of its members.
In a statement, it identified the attacker as Abdel-Wahhab Issa Hussein Khalayleh, a 20-year-old from Hebron.
The group added that Khalayleh’s action was “legitimate self-defence” against Israel’s raid in Jenin and against “the crimes of displacement, killing and destruction committed by the occupying forces.”
Israel launched a ground and aerial assault on Jenin refugee camp on Monday morning, killing at least ten people and wounding dozens more.
The operation, which was still continuing on Tuesday, has been slammed by Palestinians as a “new war crime“.
