The police said that there were “indications” that it was an attack on political incentives – the fourth deadly attack on Israel in less than three weeks in a period of increasing tensions between Israel and Palestinians. The militant group Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, has praised the attack but has not claimed responsibility. Hours after the shooting, the suspect remained at large. Hundreds of Israeli police, dog units and army special forces carried out a huge manhunt in central Tel Aviv, searching buildings by building in densely populated neighborhoods. Security forces target a shooting scene on Dizengoff Street in the center of the Mediterranean coastal city of Tel Aviv, Israel on April 7, 2022. JACK GUEZ / AFP via Getty Images Amichai Eshel, the Tel Aviv police chief, said the perpetrator opened fire on a crowded bar around 9pm and then fled. “Our job is that it is still close,” he told reporters. “Right now, there are indications that this is a terrorist attack, but I have to be very sensitive about that and say that we are in control of other elements.” Israel’s emergency services Magen David Adom said two men in their 30s had been killed. Seven other people were injured, three of them seriously, he said. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met with top security officials late Thursday and agreed to “continue to direct large-scale aid to Tel Aviv,” his office said in a statement. At least one shot was fired at Dizengoff Street, a main road. Dizengoff Street has been the scene of many deadly attacks over the years. The popular nightlife area was packed on Thursday afternoon, at the beginning of the Israeli weekend. A woman reacts to the shooting scene in Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday, April 7, 2022. Israeli police say several people were injured in a shooting in the center of Tel Aviv. Ariel Schalit / ΑΠ Television footage showed armed officers running down Dizengoff Street and into side streets trying to locate the perpetrator, Reuters reported. Police spokesman Eli Levy said a “terrorist opened fire a short distance away and then fled on foot,” according to Reuters. He told residents nearby not to leave their homes. “Do not stick your head out the window. Stay away from your balconies,” Levy said on Channel 13. “It’s an atmosphere of war. Soldiers and police are everywhere … They searched the restaurant,” and people are crying, restaurant worker Binyamin Blum told AFP. Israeli security and rescue personnel work at the entrance of a restaurant following an incident in Tel Aviv, Israel, April 7, 2022. STRINGER / REUTERS Tensions are high following a series of attacks by Palestinian militants who killed 11 people shortly before the holy Islamic month of Ramadan, which began almost a week ago. Last month, a gunman on a motorcycle opened fire on a town in central Israel, killing five people. Days earlier, a gunman killed two young police officers during a shooting spree in the central city of Hadera, and last week, a lone gunman killed four people in a car and knife attack in the southern city of Beersheba. Last year, protests and clashes during Ramadan sparked an 11-day war in Gaza. Gunman killed five in Israel’s latest deadly attack at 1:45 p.m. Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian leaders have held a series of meetings in recent weeks, and Israel has taken a number of steps to defuse tensions, including issuing thousands of additional work permits for Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. Prior to the attack, Israel had said it would allow women, children and men over the age of 40 from the occupied West Bank to pray at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem on Friday, the first weekly prayer in Ramadan. Tens of thousands were expected to attend. The mosque is the third holiest site in Islam and is located on top of a hill which is the holiest site for the Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount. The shrine has long been a hotbed of violence between Israelis and Palestinians. Israel occupied East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in the Middle East War in 1967. The Palestinians want all three territories to form their future state. The last serious and substantive peace talks collapsed more than a decade ago, and Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is opposed to the Palestinian state. Israel has annexed East Jerusalem in a move that is not internationally recognized and considers the entire city to be its capital. It withdrew troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005, but along with neighboring Egypt imposed a mutilated blockade on the ground after the Hamas militant group took power from rival Palestinian forces two years later. Israel and Hamas have waged four wars since then.
The recent attacks appear to have been carried out by individual perpetrators, possibly with the help of accomplices. No Palestinian militant group has claimed responsibility, although Hamas has welcomed the attacks. Hamas spokesman Abdelatif Al-Qanou said late Thursday that “the heroic attack on the heart of the (Israeli) entity struck the Zionist security system and demonstrated the ability of our people to undermine the occupation.” Israel says the conflict stems from the Palestinians’ refusal to accept its existence as a Jewish state and blames the attacks in part for inciting social media. The Palestinians say such attacks are the inevitable result of a nearly 55-year-old military occupation that shows no signs of ending.