British Sisters and Italian Tourists Killed in Israel/Palestine Violence
The two attacks occurred after Israel launched predawn attacks on Friday in response to a barrage of rockets fired the previous day.
A terrorist attack in Tel Aviv resulted in the death of an Italian tourist and the injury of several others, just hours after it was confirmed that the victims of a shooting in the West Bank were two British women.
Friday night in the Israeli city, a car struck four people near the Charles Claure Promenade, according to police.
The ambulance service reported that all the victims were foreign tourists, while Italian authorities confirmed that the deceased was an Italian national.
According to a statement, a police officer was at a gas station when they “heard a noise and observed a car inverted and several people lying on the floor.”
Upon observing that the driver was reaching for a weapon, officers approached and “neutralized and executed him”
According to local media, the two British women killed in a shooting in the West Bank on Friday morning were sisters, one aged 15 and the other in her 20s.
Their mother was airlifted to the hospital following an attack near the Hamra settlement, approximately 50 kilometers north of Jerusalem.
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It occurred after Israel launched morning attacks on Lebanon and Gaza in retaliation for rocket attacks on Thursday that it blamed on Hamas-affiliated militants.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he had ordered the mobilization of border police reserve units and additional IDF personnel “to combat the terrorist attacks.”
This week’s raids on the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem have heightened tensions in the region.
Ali Bunkall, a correspondent for Sky News in the Middle East, believes the British victims of the West Bank attack moved to Israel around 2005.
Images from the scene depict several severely damaged vehicles on the side of the road.
According to Oded Revivi, the mayor of a settlement near Bethlehem where the family resided, their father was in another car when the attack occurred.
The targeting of cars with Israeli license plates in the West Bank has become “much more common” in recent weeks, according to a Sky correspondent.
Mr. Netanyahu and the defense minister, Mr. Yoav Gallant, visited the scene of the shooting on Friday evening.
Mr. Netanyahu stated, “It’s only a matter of time, and not much time before we settle the score.”
To find the assailants, roadblocks were set up.
No group has claimed responsibility, but a Hamas spokesman hailed the attack as “retaliation for Israel’s crimes in the West Bank and Al Aqsa mosque.”
A spokesperson for the British Foreign Office issued the following statement: “We are saddened to learn of the deaths of two British-Israeli citizens and the serious injuries of a third individual.
The United Kingdom urges all parties in the region to de-escalate tensions.
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This week’s clashes at Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa compound occurred at the beginning of Passover, which this year overlaps with Ramadan.
The site is extremely sacred to both Muslims and Jews and access and control disputes frequently escalate into violence.
Friday morning’s pre-dawn Israeli airstrikes targeted various areas of Gaza, including Hamas tunnels and weapons production facilities. Hamas controls the blockaded coastal strip.
According to the Israeli military, Hamas targets in southern Lebanon were also struck.
There were no reports of serious injuries, but a children’s hospital in Gaza was damaged, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
Israel stated that its retaliation was in response to the firing of 34 rockets from Lebanon on Thursday, one of the heaviest such attacks since its war with Hezbollah in 2006.
Air defenses intercepted 25 of the rockets fired at Israel, according to the authorities.
The majority of those that made it into Israeli territory landed in open areas, but one hit a house in the town of Sderot.
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