Tel Aviv, June 7, (dpa/GNA) – At least one person has been killed and five others injured, in a series of shootings in Israel, emergency services said on Sunday.
The police cited a possible terrorist attack. The vehicle of a suspected perpetrator has been seized and the man was shot dead in the process, authorities said.
The Israeli news website ynet reported that the suspect was an Arab citizen of Israel. According to the Magen David Adom ambulance service, shots were first fired at a petrol station near Kochav Ya’ir, north-east of Tel Aviv. Two people were said to have been injured.
Further gunshot victims were then reported from two nearby locations. A 55-year-old reservist was killed, the army later announced. Numerous police officers were deployed in the area.
Police chief Danny Levi said there had been just one perpetrator, media reported. Initial reports had indicated that a second perpetrator was still at large.
The last few years have seen repeated attacks by Palestinians in Israel. Sunday’s incidents took place in Israeli towns near the border with the occupied West Bank.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a briefing on the situation following the shootings, due to the suspicion of terrorism, according to his office. He was following updates on the “murderous attack,” it said.
The Islamist militant Hamas organization praised the attack as “heroic,” but did not claim responsibility for it.
The Palestinian organization described it in a statement as a response to Israel’s ongoing attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Jerusalem.
GNA