JERUSALEM, Israel – Israeli police say a pair of Arab gunmen killed two people and wounded several others during a shooting attack in central Israel on Sunday.
Security camera footage broadcast on Israeli media showed two men appearing to open fire at police and civilians in the city of Hadera, about 30 miles north of Tel Aviv. The gunmen were shot and killed by police officers who were dining at a nearby restaurant.
Police officials later identified the two people killed as Border Police officers Yezen Falah and Shirel Abukarat, both 19-years-old.
“The two officers died in battle this evening with armed terrorists,” the Border Police said in a statement, adding that three other officers were injured.
Israeli security officials say the gunmen were Arab citizens of northern Israel who sympathized with the Islamic State. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement on its Telegraph channel. This was the first time ISIS has claimed responsibility for an Israeli terror attack since 2017.
Hamas, the Islamic terror group that rules Gaza, praised the attack as a “heroic operation.”
Mansour Abbas, who leads Israel’s Islamist Ra’am Party, condemned the attack saying: “This disgusting crime was ISIS-inspired and does not reflect the Israeli-Arab population, which seeks to live in respect and in accordance with the law, a life that honors the living and coexistence between Arabs and Jews.”
Sunday’s mass shooting is the second deadly nationalist attack carried out by Arab citizens in less than a week. On Tuesday, a lone terrorist inspired by ISIS killed four people in a stabbing rampage in southern Israel before he was shot dead by witnesses.
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Police forces are on high alert across the country, especially because the recent attacks precede the volatile period of Ramadan, when terror attacks and violence typically increase.
Sunday’s attack also comes as Israel is hosting a major summit in the Negev desert with the foreign ministers of Bahrain, Egypt, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid “updated the foreign ministers participating in the Negev Summit on the details of the terror attack in Hadera,” the Israeli foreign ministry tweeted.
“All the foreign ministers condemned the attack, and asked to send their condolences to the families of the victims & wishes for the recovery of the wounded,” the ministry said.
Blinken condemned the “senseless” terror attack on Twitter.
“We condemn today’s terrorist attack in Hadera, Israel. Such senseless acts of violence and murder have no place in society,” tweeted Blinken.
“We stand with our Israeli partners and send our condolences to the families of the victims,” he said.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett also rushed to the scene of the attack and held a security assessment with police officers. He said Israel must adapt to the new threat Islamic State supporters are posing to the country.
“A second attack by Islamic State supporters in Israel requires the security forces to adapt quickly to a new threat, and they have,” Bennett said on Monday. “I urge citizens to continue to be vigilant. Together, we will also be able to defeat this enemy.”
Jordan’s King Abdullah is expected to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday, widely seen as an attempt to calm tensions before Ramadan, which also coincides with Easter and Passover.
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