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Photo:
Scene of suspected terror attack in Petah Tikva. Credit: MDA
Published by Maan and Haaretz

Police stand near the body of the assailant at the scene of the Jaffa stabbing attack, March 8, 2016. Credit: David Bachar Published by Haaretz

Israeli Border Police stand guard following the shooting attack in Jerusalem, March 8, 2016. Credit: AFP Published by Haaretz

Blood at the scene of a stabbing attack in Jaffa, March 8, 2016. (Yotam Ronen/Activestills.org) Published by 972Mag
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BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Three Palestinians were shot dead after they allegedly carried out separate attacks in Israel and occupied East Jerusalem, killing one American tourist and wounding at least 12 Israelis, on Tuesday afternoon and evening.

In the first deadly encounter, shortly before 5 p.m., Israeli police spokesperson Luba al-Samri said a Palestinian man was shot dead after he allegedly stabbed and wounded an Israeli man near Petah Tikva, around seven miles east of Tel Aviv.

Al-Samri said that an "Arab terrorist" stabbed a Jewish Israeli in his mid-30s "in the upper part of his body," leaving him with light to moderate injuries.

Israeli police forces arrived on the scene and shot dead the Palestinian, she said, adding that Israeli forces closed the area for investigation.

Later, the Palestinian was identified as Abd Al-Rahman Radad, 17, from al-Zawiya village in the occupied West Bank district of Salfit
Minutes later, another Palestinian was shot dead after allegedly firing gunshots at Israeli police forces near Salah al-Din Street in occupied East Jerusalem, injuring two Israeli officers.
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By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man for 972Mag

A Palestinian man stabbed 13 people, wounding 12 people and killing one, before being shot to death by Israeli police along the Jaffa waterfront Tuesday evening. The fatality was an American tourist, police said, and two of the other victims were “minorities,” official-speak for Arabs.

Two other attacks took place within a matter of hours elsewhere in Israel and East Jerusalem.

In the second attack, in the Tel Aviv suburb of Petah Tikva, a Palestinian man stabbed an Israeli man in a liquor store. In that attack, the victim reportedly pulled the knife out of himself and, together with the store owner, proceeded to stab the attacker to death.

In a third attack, a Palestinian man shot two Israeli police officers in the head and neck along the seam line where East Jerusalem meets West Jerusalem. One of the officers was in critical condition, the other’s injuries were described as serious.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Israel on Tuesday, although there was no evidence the attacks were meant to coincide with his visit. Police denied that there were any ties between the three attacks. All three attackers were killed at the scenes of the respective attacks.

Video from the Jaffa attack showed police officers training their guns on the suspect, wounded lying motionless on the ground, as bystanders urging the officers to shoot him in the head. One bystander can be heard telling them not to shoot.

For the past five months, since October 2015, individual Palestinians have carried out hundreds of stabbing and shooting attacks against Israeli security forces and civilians. The vast majority of the attacks have taken place beyond the Green Line — in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

This is the second high-profile, multiple-casualty attack in Tel Aviv since the start of the year. On New Year’s Day, a Palestinian citizen of Israel shot and killed three people on Dizengoff Street, an area known for retail stores and sidewalk cafes.

Since the spate of stabbing attacks began, Palestinians have argued that Israeli security forces were shooting to kill alleged and potential attackers even when they could have been safely apprehended, with many describing Israel’s policy as extra-judicial killing.

At least 160 Palestinians have been killed by Israelis since October, including 41 minors. Over 30 Israelis have been killed by Palestinians in the same period.

Israeli police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld said two Israeli policemen were wounded when a Palestinian shot them with an automatic weapon.

A spokesperson for Hadassah hospital later said both Israeli officers had been hit in the head. One of them, aged 47, was in critical condition, fighting for his life, while the other, 31, was in moderate condition.

Shortly after 6 p.m., Israeli police reported a third attack near the port in the Israeli city of Jaffa, with a Palestinian shot dead after he stabbed to death an American tourist and wounded at least nine Israelis.

Israeli emergency services Magen David Adom (MDA) said five people were seriously injured and four moderately.

A spokesperson said the Palestinian attacker had stabbed the Israelis while running along a path near the port.

Israeli police later identified the Palestinian as a 22-year-old from the city of Qalqiliya in the occupied West Bank.

He was later identified as Bashar Masalha from the village of al-Zawiya in the Qalqiliya district.

The incidents followed a fourth deadly encounter on Tuesday, when a Palestinian woman was shot dead by Israeli border police officers after she allegedly attempted to stab them in Jerusalem's Old City.
Police opened fire on the women, identified as 50-year-old Fadwa Ahmad Abu Teir, when she allegedly pulled out a knife. No Israeli injuries were reported.

Since a wave of unrest swept Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory at the beginning of October last year, at least 188 Palestinians have been shot dead by Israelis.

Israel says the majority of those killed were attempting to attack Israelis when they were shot, although Palestinians and rights groups have disputed Israel's version of events in a number of cases.

During that same period, attacks by Palestinians have left at least 28 Israelis dead.
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by Nir Hasson for Haaretz

Israel was engulfed by a wave of terror attacks on Tuesday, with at least one person killed and 13 wounded in attacks that ranged from Jerusalem to Jaffa and Petah Tikva. Four of the attackers were killed.
The Israel Defence Forces announced on Tuesday night that it was imposing closures on the West Bank villages of Zawia and Auja, the hometown's of two of the attackers 

A tourist from the U.S. was killed and 11 people wounded, four of them seriously, in two stabbing attacks in Jaffa Port and the area of Tel Aviv bordering on Jaffa on Tuesday evening. The attacks were carried out by a single assailant.

All the wounded were evacuated to hospitals in the Tel Aviv area. The attacker, Bashar Masalha, 22, from Auja, near Qalqilyah in the West Bank, was killed.

According to the police, the assailant stabbed three people at the Jaffa port, and then ran to the promenade and stabbed four more near the Manta Ray Restaurant. He then fled toward Tel Aviv, but was shot dead by police officers. No other assailant is suspected of having been involved in the attack.

"When I got to the port, I saw a woman of about 30 in a serious condition with stab wounds to her upper body," said Magen David Adom paramedic Hagai Natani. "Near her was a wounded man lying on the ground. We gave first aid to both of them before they were evacuated by ambulance to hospital."

While the Jaffa attack was unfolding, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, in Israel for a two-day visit, was less than a kilometer away sitting with former President Shimon Peres in the Peres Peace Center in Jaffa.

The VP issued a strong condemnation of the attacks, offered his condolences to the family of the American citizen murdered in the attack, as well as his wishes for a full and quick recovery for the wounded.‎

Less than an hour before the Jaffa attacks, two Border Police officers were seriously wounded in a shooting attack on Salah A-Din Street near Jerusalem's Old City. One officer was wounded in the initial round of firing by the attacker, while the second was wounded during the pursuit after the gunman.

The two officers – one, aged 49, in critical condition and the other, aged 31, in moderate condition – were treated at the scene before being evacuated to hospital.

The gunman, who was killed at the scene, was identified as Fouad Tamimi, 25, from Issawiya in East Jerusalem, who had no previous security-related record. The weapon used in the shooting, a Carl Gustav rifle, was discovered at the scene of the attack.

It was the third live fire incident in the Damascus Gate area since the latest wave of violence began last October.  

Stabbed with his own knife

At virtually the same time as the Jerusalem attack, a man was stabbed in a terrorist attack in Petah Tikva, outside Tel Aviv.

The victim, an ultra-Orthodox man in his 40s, managed to overcome the attacker and, with the assistance of a shop-owner, stabbed him to death. The victim, who sustained moderate wounds to the upper body, was rushed to Beilinson Hospital.

Israel Police reported that the assailant, Abd Al-Rahman Radad, 17, of Zawia, followed the victim into a liquor store on Baron Hirsch Street in Petah Tikva, drew a knife and stabbed him in the upper body. The victim, together with the shop owner, managed to overpower the assailant, took the knife from him and stabbed him. He later died of his wounds.

Earlier on Tuesday, a female Palestinian assailant attempted to stab Border Police officers in Jerusalem's Old City Israeli police said.

According to police, the assailant approached Border Police officers at Hagai Street in the Old City, drew a knife out of her bag and attempted to stab them. No officers were wounded.

The officers shot the assailant, who was identified as a 51-year-old from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Umm Tuba. She was pronounced dead shortly afterwards.

Hagai Street, in the heart of the Old City, is where Nehemia Lavi and Aharon Bennett were killed in a terrorist attack last October.

At the Qalandiyah checkpoint near Jerusalem on Tuesday morning, security forces found a knife on a Palestinian who admitted that she intended to use it in an attack, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

The Palestinian roused the suspicions of Military Police officers at the checkpoint, who then found a knife while searching her belongings. She admitted under investigation that she arrived at the checkpoint to carry out an attack, the IDF said.

Opposition politicians were quick to criticize the government of Prime Minister Banjamin Netanyahu in the wake of the attacks.

Opposition leader and Labor chairman Isaac Herzog called on the government to adopt his separation plan for East Jerusalem.

Zionist Union co-chair Tzipi Livni said: "The wave of terror will not subside on its own. The visit by [U.S. Vice Presidbet Joe] Biden visit is an opportunity to lower the flames."

Yisrael Beiteinu chairman Avigdor Lieberman said that the terror attacks were a "result of Netanyahu's and Ya'alon's policy of containing terrorism." 

Hamas praised the attacks, saying that they were a natural reaction and that the Palestinians have the right to fight the occupation by any means at their disposal.

Hamas spokesman Hussam Badran also called on the different Palestinian factions to join the "struggle of the Palestinians youths who choose to go and carry out attacks at the heart of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem."

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