Two Israelis were killed and 14 others were wounded in an armed attack in central Tel Aviv, while the occupation reinforced its forces from the army and police in search of the perpetrator of the attack. Tensions moved to the West Bank when settlers attacked Palestinians and two were shot by the Israeli army.

The attacker targeted shops on Dizengoff Street, the busiest and most active street in Tel Aviv, and Ichilov Hospital in the city stated that two people had died so far.

And Israeli radio reported that at least 14 people were injured.

An Israeli police statement said that the operation, which he described as a terrorist attack, was carried out by two attackers, adding that one of them fled.

Meanwhile, Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported, quoting Israeli police sources, that preliminary estimates indicate that one gunman may have carried out the attack before he was able to escape.

Pictures documented by the surveillance camera showed the moment the shooting took place inside a cafe on Dizengoff Street in Tel Aviv, causing panic among shoppers who were present at the scene of the attack.

For his part, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Twitter, "The security forces are chasing the perpetrator of the Tel Aviv attack, and we will hold everyone who helped him to account."

The Prime Minister's Office indicated that Bennett had assessed the situation, and had agreed to the continuation of the reinforcements and the flow of troops to Tel Aviv.


Port search

Israeli media said that the attacker might be from the Jenin area in the northern occupied West Bank, and the Israeli Army Radio stated that more than 1,000 police and border guards were deployed in and around the shooting site.

The Israeli radio said that the army and police are deploying checkpoints in the Wadi Ara area, on the road to Haifa and near the entrances to the West Bank.

Amichai Stein, a journalist for the official Kan channel, said that a squad of Israeli special forces deployed in the streets of Tel Aviv following the operation, and the Israeli Channel 12 reported that public transportation services in the city had stopped due to the security situation.

Haaretz newspaper said that the army is deployed in Tel Aviv to support the police in the search and chase operation, and an Israeli security source also said that thousands of soldiers, police and special forces are combing Tel Aviv in search of the attacker.

Israeli journalist Bar Peleg of the Haaretz newspaper published videos that he said showed a building surrounded at the scene of the attack.

For his part, the Tel Aviv police chief said, "Indications are that the operation is a terrorist attack, but we are investigating in other directions."

He added - in statements carried by the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation - that the shooter disappeared from the scene of the attack, and fled to one of the alleys in the area.

This operation comes despite the state of alert experienced by the Israeli police and the reinforcements that have pushed it since the occurrence of 3 operations inside Israeli cities within one week, killing 11 people in total, the last of which was the Bnei Brak operation east of Tel Aviv on March 29.

Since then, the Israeli occupation forces have killed a number of Palestinian youths during incursions into Jenin in the West Bank, and arrests and repression continue in the Bab al-Amud area of ​​occupied Jerusalem, where tensions increased during the month of Ramadan.


Faction responses

In its first reaction, the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) said that the attack was a natural and legitimate response to the escalation of the occupation's crimes against the Palestinian people, Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The Islamic Jihad movement said that the return of the commando operations inside the Israeli depth is the result of the aggression that crossed all borders.

Activists broadcast on social media, video clips of a march in the city of Jenin, in the northern occupied West Bank, to celebrate the news of the Tel Aviv operation.

On the other hand, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said - in a tweet via Twitter - that she was "horrified" by the news of the Tel Aviv attack, and added that the United Kingdom stood with Israel against "this abhorrent violence."


West Bank tension

In the occupied West Bank, the occupation army arrested two Palestinians in the early hours of Friday morning after shooting them.

Eyewitnesses told Anadolu Agency that an Israeli force shot two Palestinians at the entrance to the town of Turmusaya, north of Ramallah. The witnesses indicated that the two civilians were wounded, the nature of which is not yet known.

They added that the two citizens were arrested by the Israeli occupation army, without further details.

Simultaneously, Jewish settlers attacked Palestinian vehicles in several locations in the West Bank.

And Anadolu Agency reported that the settlers closed the Nablus-Ramallah road, and threw stones at Palestinian vehicles, causing damage to a number of them.

West of Ramallah, settlers blocked the Ein Ayoub road, while others threw stones at Palestinian vehicles on the Bethlehem-Hebron road (south).

Recently, settlers' attacks have increased in the West Bank, as the Palestinians accuse the Israeli authorities of condoning these attacks as part of official efforts to intensify settlements in the occupied territories.