TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) – A gunman opened fire on a busy restaurant district in central Tel Aviv on Thursday night, killing at least two people and injuring several others before fleeing to a densely populated area, Israeli officials said.
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.
Amichai Eshed, the Tel Aviv police chief, said the perpetrator opened fire on a crowded bar around 9pm and then fled the scene.
“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 it had received reports of shootings in “several tents” around downtown Tel Aviv.  He said two men, about 30 years old, had been killed.  Seven other people were injured, three of them seriously, he said.
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.  Most recently, an Arab citizen of Israel shot and killed two Israelis and injured several others on the street in January 2016.
The popular nightlife area was packed on Thursday afternoon, at the beginning of the Israeli weekend.
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.
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 year, demonstrations and clashes in Jerusalem during Ramadan sparked an 11-day war in Gaza.
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 Ramadan prayer.  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 has worked to sideline the Palestinian issue in recent years, instead focusing on forging alliances with Arab states against Iran.  But the conflict of a century remains more non-negotiable than ever.
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 Prime Minister 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 builds and expands Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, which most of the international community considers illegal.
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.
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.”
On March 29, a 27-year-old Palestinian from the West Bank methodically shot dead five people in the central city of Bnei Brak.  Two days earlier, two policemen were shot dead by two Islamic State militants in the central city of Khandera.  Last week, an Islamic State supporter killed four people in a car and knife attack in the southern city of Beersheba.  The Hadera and Beersheba attacks were carried out by Palestinian civilians in Israel.
The recent attacks appear to have been carried out by individual attackers, possibly with the help of accomplices.  No Palestinian militant group has claimed responsibility, although Hamas has welcomed the attacks.
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.  Palestinians say such attacks are the inevitable result of a nearly 55-year-old military occupation that shows no signs of ending.
Krauss reported from Jerusalem.  Associated Press writer Ilan Ben Zion in Jerusalem contributed to this report.