ISRAELI ASSAULT IN WEST BANK ENTERS ITS SECOND DAY; AT LEAST 7 HURT IN TEL AVIV CAR-RAMMING

Tue 04 July 2023:

At least seven people have been wounded in a suspected car-ramming and stabbing attack in Tel Aviv, according to Israeli police, on the second day of Israel’s largest military offensive in Jenin, in occupied West Bank, in decades.

Israeli police said on Tuesday they had received a report about “a car that attacked a number of civilians” in north Tel Aviv and that the suspect “has been neutralised”. A medic who examined him at the scene told Israel’s Kan radio that he had been shot dead.

A suspected car-ramming attack has wounded several people in Tel Aviv, according to Israeli media reports.

The circumstances surrounding the incident on Tuesday were not immediately clear, but there were reports it also included at least one stabbing victim. pic.twitter.com/GSU6iBOWMG

— INDEPENDENT PRESS (@IpIndependent) July 4, 2023

“It appears that the suspect was driving a vehicle traveling from south to north, rammed into pedestrians standing in the shopping centre and proceeded to get out of the vehicle to stab civilians with a sharp object,” police said, adding that three of those wounded were in serious condition.

Hamas, the Palestinian group running the besieged Gaza Strip, praised the attack as a “heroic operation” that was an “initial response to the occupation’s crimes against our people in the Jenin refugee camp”.

“This is an implementation of what the [Palestinian] resistance confirmed – that the occupation will pay the price for its crimes,” Hazem Kassem, a spokesperson for the group, said in a statement. “We praise the heroes of our people and the fighters in Jenin.”

Israel launched a ground and aerial assault on Jenin refugee camp on Monday morning, killing at least nine people and injuring dozens more.

Several hurt in suspected car-ramming attack in Tel Aviv pic.twitter.com/VQtnVvqm0N

— INDEPENDENT PRESS (@IpIndependent) July 4, 2023

Hamas not claiming direct responsibility over Tel Aviv attack: Al Jazeera’s correspondent

Al Jazeera’ Imran Khan said that what was missing from the statement issued by Hamas on the Tel Aviv’s attack was a direct claim of responsibility.

“Hamas is praising the attack but it’s unlikely that they would have been behind it,” Khan said reporting from West Jerusalem.

“It’s unlikely that they would have been behind this kind of lone-wolf attacker – as security services call it … somebody acting on their own,” Khan said.

“These statements are about encouraging [people] to take matters into their won hands as it’s increasingly difficult for the Israeli to be able to defend against something like this,” he added.

Israel’s largest assault in decades in the occupied West Bank enters its second day

At least 10 Palestinians have been killed in Jenin and one in Ramallah as Israel’s largest assault in decades in the occupied West Bank enters its second day.

UN agencies have raised concerns over the scale of Israel’s assault, adding that first aid responders are being prevented from reaching critically injured people.

Seven Palestinians killed as Israel bombs Jenin in large-scale military campaign.#Jenin pic.twitter.com/FVJqEw1bLO

— INDEPENDENT PRESS (@IpIndependent) July 3, 2023

UN agencies ‘alarmed’ at scale of Jenin raid

UN agencies have raised concerns over the scale of Israel’s assault in Jenin, adding that first aid responders have been prevented from reaching critically injured people.

“We are alarmed at the scale of air and ground operations that are taking place in Jenin in the occupied West Bank, and air strikes hitting a densely populated refugee camp,” Vanessa Huguenin, a spokesperson for the UN humanitarian office, told a briefing. She said three children were among those killed, without providing details.

“First responders have been prevented from entering the (Jenin) refugee camp, including to reach persons who have been critically injured,” said WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier, referring to restrictions put in place by Israeli forces.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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