Six people were killed and nine others wounded in a shooting and stabbing terror attack in Jaffa on Tuesday evening, according to Israel Police, in one of the deadliest terror attacks in recent years.
Two terrorists, one of whom was armed with a rifle and the other with a knife, attacked civilians on the Tel Aviv light rail before getting off and continuing on foot and shooting and stabbing people on Jerusalem Street in the city.
A municipal security officer and armed civilians shot and “neutralized” the two terrorists, police added.
The two attackers were identified as Mehmed Khalaf Saher Rajab and Hassan Mohammed Hassan Tamimi, both Palestinian residents of Hebron in the West Bank.
Nine other people were injured to varying degrees in the attack and were evacuated to Wolfson Medical Center in Holon and Ichilov Medical Center in Tel Aviv.
The terror attack — one of the deadliest single attacks in Israel in recent years — came amid heightened tensions in Israel as the Israel Defense Forces announced a ground incursion into Lebanon in a bid to push the Hezbollah terror group away from the border and just minutes before Iran launched a massive missile attack on Israel.
The Israel Police Commissioner visited the scene and told the press that the police were “dealing with a severe incident.”
The identities of the victims were not immediately released.
He added that the police had no prior intelligence of the attack.
“We heard non-stop gunfire in every direction. We went outside in fear and saw a couple of figures running in the street, seemingly the terrorists. It was hard to watch,” Motti, an owner of a nearby kiosk, told Ynet.
“A woman came off the light rail screaming. Immediately after that, I saw injured people. It’s a bad feeling seeing the scene,” said Mohammed, a flower seller who witnessed the attack, adding that it was a “sad and difficult day.”
Following the attack, far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich wrote on X that he would demand the terrorists’ families be “exiled to Gaza” and that their homes be destroyed.