A man riding a motorcycle opened fire on passers-by in the city of Bnei Brak. PHOTO: Ilia Yefimovich/picture alliance via Getty Images
Palestinian gunmen have killed 11 in Israel and injured dozens more in a string of 3 attacks, with ISIS claiming responsibility for 2 of them. Israeli security forces were already on high alert after attacks by ISIS members on 22nd March and again on Sunday. ISIS attacks in the country are rare; the last time the group claimed responsibility for violence in Israel was in 2017.Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett put out a video on Tuesday evening, describing the recent wave of violence as “difficult” after the third attack by a gunman riding a motorbike in Bnei Brak, a Jewish ultra-Orthodox city near Tel Aviv. Yesterday's assailant was identified as Diaa Hamarsheh, 27, a Palestinian from the occupied West Bank village of Yabad.The Ukrainian embassy in Tel Aviv said in a statement that 2 of the victims of Tuesday’s attack were citizens who were shot while sitting in front of a grocery shop, without giving any further details on their identity.“We are currently dealing with a new wave of terrorism,” added Bennett during his statement.
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ISIS has claimed responsibility for the “twin” attacks in Beersheba on 22nd March, and in Hadera on Sunday on its Amaq Telegram channel. Mohammed Abu al-Kiyan went on a rampage on Sunday afternoon in Beersheba, stabbing 4 people to death and injuring 2 more before 2 bystanders gunned him down.Kiyan, a former teacher from the Bedouin Arab-Israeli community, was previously sentenced by an Israeli court for promoting ISIS to children in 2016 but was released in 2019, according to local media reports.In another deadly attack in the northern city of Hadera, two Arab cousins identified as Ayman and Ibrahim Ighbariah killed 2 and injured 12 people more on Sunday. The pair opened fire at a bus stop before being shot down by police. ISIS last claimed responsibility for violence in Israel in 2017 when three attackers shot and stabbed police officers. However, Hamas and the terror group Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed the attackers were their own members. The attacks were condemned by several governments worldwide, including Antony Blinken, Secretary of the US State Department. He said, “This violence is unacceptable. Like all people around the world, Israelis should be able to live in peace and without fear. Our hearts go out to those killed in the attacks.”The Israeli government was busy holding a regional summit in the Negev desert with the leaders from the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, Egypt, and the US to address the security issues in the region.The attacks were also condemned by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, while Hamas praised the attackers but did not claim any responsibility for the attacks.