A 36-year-old Italian tourist was murdered and seven more people were injured in a terrorist car-ramming attack along the Tel Aviv promenade on Friday night.
A police officer who was nearby arrived at the scene in Charles Clore Park to find several people wounded and an overturned car near the popular promenade. The officer shot the driver when he tried to pull a gun, police said.
The terrorist was identified as 45-year-old Yousef Abu Jaber, an Israeli citizen from Kafr Kassem.
The man who was killed was identified as Alessandro Parini from Rome. The seven who were wounded, three moderately and four lightly, are British and Italian citizens. Two of them were released on Saturday morning.
Police officer “Y.” who neutralized the terrorist, recounted how the danger hadn’t passed after the terrorist rammed the eight individuals.
“While running I noticed people lying on the boardwalk and on the bike path,” he said. “Inside the dark vehicle, I noticed some movement... the suspect got out of the vehicle holding a weapon. Before he could shoot at us, we fired at him, he fell and tried to get up and aim his weapon, [and] we fired another shot. He fell and the weapon fell from his hands; after that we handcuffed him and called in additional forces.”
Reactions to the attack
The Italian Foreign Ministry condemned the attack, expressing “horror and deep dismay at the cowardly attack on Tel Aviv.”
Kfar Kassem Mayor Adel Badir also condemned the attack and sent his condolences to the family of the victim.“We condemn any harm to innocent lives and call for tolerance from all sides,” he said. “This is not the way of the residents of Kfar Kassem.”
According to reports, Abu Jaber used to work as a cleaner at the Shazar Junior High School in Kiryat Ono, where he was well-liked and would laugh with the students.
Ra’am chairman Mansour Abbas said the attack was an aberration for Arab society and Arab citizens in Israel. The Arab leadership, headed by Ra’am and the Islamic movement, “will not accept in any way the use of violence against any citizen regardless of religion or race or nationality.”
Hamas stated that the attack in Tel Aviv as well as the attack in the Jordan Valley on Friday morning “testify to the resistance’s ability to strike Israel anywhere,” and that they are “a natural response to Israel’s crimes against al-Aqsa Mosque and the worshipers inside it.”
Maariv and Reuters contributed to this report.