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7 hurt in Tel Aviv attack on day two of Israel's West Bank raid / Photo: © AFP
7 hurt in Tel Aviv attack on day two of Israel's West Bank raid
A car ramming and stabbing attack in Tel Aviv wounded seven people Tuesday before the suspect was shot dead, on the second day of Israel's biggest military operation in years in the occupied West Bank.
Palestinian militant group Hamas praised the "heroic" attack as "an initial response to crimes against our people in the Jenin camp" where Israeli forces had killed 10 people in a "counterterrorism" operation on Monday.
The driver in Tel Aviv was thought to have intentionally hit several pedestrians before getting out to "stab civilians with a sharp object," police said.
The "terrorist", a West Bank resident, was then shot dead by an armed passerby, said police chief Yaakov Shabtai.
The attack came as the army pushed on with its operation in the militant stronghold of Jenin in the northern occupied West Bank that left 10 Palestinians dead, more than 100 in custody, and thousands displaced from their homes.
The Jenin raid, launched Monday under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hard-right government, employed hundreds of troops, army bulldozers and drone strikes.
"In the last five years, this is the worst raid," said Qasem Benighader, a nurse at a hospital morgue.
- 'Open war' -
On Tuesday, shops were shuttered amid a general strike and Jenin's near-empty streets littered with debris and burned roadblocks.
The Israeli army said its "counterterrorism activities" had uncovered militant hideouts and an underground shaft used to store explosives.
Israeli forces had "apprehended 120 Palestinian suspects", the army said, adding that around "300 armed terrorists were still in Jenin, mostly in hiding".
The Israeli army said it does not intend to stay in the camp but was ready for prolonged fighting.
The northern West Bank has seen a recent spate of attacks on Israelis as well as Jewish settler violence targeting Palestinians.
Israeli-Palestinian violence has worsened since last year, and escalated further under the Netanyahu coalition government that includes extreme-right allies.
Netanyahu said Israeli forces were "destroying command centres and seizing considerable weaponry" in the Jenin camp which he labelled "the nest of terrorists".
The Palestinian foreign ministry called the escalation "an open war against the people of Jenin".
Around 3,000 people had fled their homes in the Jenin refugee camp, said deputy governor of Jenin, Kamal Abu al-Roub, adding they would be housed in schools and other shelters.
The United Nations said the military operation disrupted water and electricity to "large areas" of the refugee camp.
- 'Strengthen settlements' -
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is "deeply concerned" about the violence, and called for the respect of international humanitarian law, a spokesman said in a statement.
The United States said ally Israel had a right to "defend its people against... terrorist groups" but called for protection of civilians.
In the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip, protesters burned tyres near the border fence with Israel.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since the Six-Day War of 1967.
Excluding annexed east Jerusalem, the territory is now home to around 490,000 Israelis in settlements considered illegal under international law.
The Palestinians, who seek their own independent state, want Israel to withdraw from all land it seized in 1967 and to dismantle all Jewish settlements.
At least 188 Palestinians, 25 Israelis, one Ukrainian and one Italian have been killed this year, according to an AFP tally compiled from official sources from both sides.
They include, on the Palestinian side, combatants and civilians, and on the Israeli side, mostly civilians and three members of the Arab minority.
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K. Berger--BTZ
