At least five people were fatally shot in a Tel Aviv suburb of Bnei Brak, including a policeman. The gunman, identified as Diaa Hamarsheh, 26, who was riding a motorcycle, was killed by police.

Israeli media say the attacker was a Palestinian from the West Bank.

Police say two of the victims, two men aged 23 and 32, were Ukrainians who were in the country for work.

This was the fifth such incident in less than a week and within days of the start of Ramadan.

“Israel is facing a murderous wave of Arab terrorism. Security forces are operating. We will fight terror with perseverance, persistence and an iron fist.”
Naphtali Bennett
Israeli Prime Minister

The Israeli authorities have not yet reached a conclusion as to whether this series of attacks was organized or whether the attackers acted on impulse.

For now, more troops have been deployed to the West Bank, and the Israeli police have raised the alert level to the highest level.

In the West Bank, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the attack, saying the killing of civilians, Israelis or Palestinians, “leads to a deterioration of the situation and instability”.

On social media, there are those who link the attacker to the Islamic State group that claimed responsibility for the two previous attacks.

The group operates mainly in Iraq and Syria, where it has recently intensified attacks against security forces even though it no longer controls any territory. In the past, these extremists had claimed attacks against Israeli troops.

Egypt, Morocco, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates, as well as the US, condemned the deadly attack.